by Regan Hayes

It’s been two years since I last wrote about Apple. If you remember, Steve Jobs had stepped in as interim CEO and had bet the whole Apple cart on that little iMac. Now, iMac is two years old and Steve Jobs is in complete control as CEO. And it shows. This summer, he managed to surprise us by coming out with a new computer—the G4 Cube, and improving Apple’s existing models. While other high-tech companies’ stock has fallen, Apple’s has split. This has to do with Apple’s aggressive product development and strict adherence to the marketing strategies that Jobs laid out three years ago. Like any great marketing master, he stuck with his plan, refining it and promoting it as he went. Now he has a clear, solid focus for Apple.

Jobs’ original product strategy had two market segments: Pro and Whoa. Pro was for the graphic design and new media types: those people who can’t get enough Megahertz, enough RAM, and enough storage—who need the best. However, Whoa is for home or office, which means Internet, and speed isn’t as important as ease of use. So Apple divided these segments into Desktop and Go. It created the iBook for portable home and small office use, and the PowerBook G3 for the professional graphic user. The completed product strategy is a quadrant, home vs. professional and desktop vs. portable.

Jobs has now expanded the professional desktop segment by adding the PowerMac G4 Cube. This computer has a G4 processor running at 450 MHz, and 64mb of standard RAM, up-gradable to 1.5GB of RAM. It has a 20gb hard drive for storage, a DVD-ROM drive that can play back DVD movies, a very fast 16mb video card, and an all-digital Harman Kardon audio system. It comes with Mac OS 9.0 and Apple’s new iMovie 2 software installed. Plus, there are ports to connect almost every device you could want. Apple’s engineers packed all this into an 8” cube (without a fan), and Apple has a special video display connector, ADC, for its three new colour displays—the 15” flat-panel LCD Studio Display, the 17” Colorsync CDT Studio Display, and the amazing 22” flat-panel Cinema Display.

Apple has also up-dated the entire G4 family. The Power Mac G4 now comes in a 400mhz model, a 450mhz dual processor model and a 500mhz dual processor. They all have Apple’s new optical mouse and new professional keyboard standard. The G4/400 has 64mb RAM, a 20gb hard drive, a DVD-ROM drive, a 56k modem and improved Ethernet. Now, the G4’s have 10/100/1000BASE-T or Gigabit Ethernet built in. The G4/450 Dual has two G4/450mhz processors, 128mb RAM standard and a 30gb hard drive. The G4/500 Dual has two G4/500mhz processors, 256mb RAM standard and a 40gb hard drive. Plus the G4/500 comes with a DVD- RAM drive installed. The DVD-RAM drive stores up to 9.4gb of data on one disk. All models have Firewire ports, built-in modems and support for Apple’s Airport wireless networking option.

Jobs has also up-dated and expanded the whole line of iMac computers. When Henry Ford rolled his first Model-T off the assembly line he said, “You can get it in any colour you want as long as it is black”. When Jobs first rolled out the iMac two years ago, you could get it in any colour you wanted, as long as it was Bondi Blue. Later, Apple offered Blueberry, Lime, Strawberry, Grape and Tangerine. Well the Apple achievers have grown up and so have the colours. They are richer and more sophisticated. They are Indigo, Sage, Ruby, Graphite and Snow.

There are 4 models. The iMac 350, which comes in Indigo only, is a 350mhz G3 processor with 64mb RAM, 7gb hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, 56k modem and Ethernet standard. It has no Firewire support. Apple plans to sell it to schools and for use as an office workstation. It should sell for $1299.

The second model is the iMac DV 400, available in Indigo and Ruby. It has a 400mhz G3 processor, 64mb RAM, 10gb hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, 56k modem, and Ethernet plus Firewire standard. It may sell for about $1499. This one will be popular with home users.

The third model is the iMac DV+ 450. It comes in Indigo, Ruby and Sage, with 64mb RAM, 20gb hard drive, a DVD-ROM drive, modem, Ethernet and Firewire standard. It will cost about $1999. The iMac DV+, with its large hard drive and fast processor, is aimed at people wanting to create high quality digital movies in their home studios.

The final model, the iMac Special Edition, is available in Graphite and Snow (you have to see Snow to believe it). It will sell for about $2299 and comes with 128mb RAM, 30gb hard drive, DVD, modem, Ethernet, Firewire standard. It is like the iMac DV+ but faster, with a G3 processor running at 500mhz. This is clearly for the professional home studio. All the iMac DV models and the Special Edition come with iMovie 2 installed.

What’s next for Apple? It’s hard to know. Steve Jobs likes to make big announcements and try to surprise us with fresh, aggressive products. The next big event for Apple is MacWorld, in San Francisco in January. The show is meant to up-date us on the new MacOS X operating system slated for release February 2001. But you can bet Jobs will have something else. We will all just keep following the Apple cart as Steve pushes it way out in front.