What Future for the Macintosh?

Jean-Louis Gassée:

We’ll start in September 2010. The older MacBook Air is relegated to a low-traffic area of the store. It’s not “moving.”

Now look at the same store today. The Science of Shopping says the “high-value” area must be the first table on the left, because, statistically, that’s how we navigate stores. There we see six MacBook Airs: four 11-inch models and two 13-inch configurations.

Why the change? The attractive price is part of the answer: The base 11-inch model sells for $999, low by Apple standards. But performance is the more important factor.

★ Monday, 14 February 2011