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September 8, 1998
Editorial: Keeping up with demand
Apple's iMac gamble seems to be paying off better than even the company itself predicted before the Aug. 15 launch of the consumer desktop systems. To judge from anecdotal evidence, Mac resellers still can't keep iMacs on the shelves. Indeed, the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday quoted projections that Apple may sell up to 800,000 units by year-end, twice what the company was rumored to have projected before it launched the blue-and-white boxes.
Furthermore, supply seems to be keeping up fairly closely with intense worldwide demand. While some dealers and end users have reported crunches outside major U.S. urban centers, shortages have been ameliorated quickly. Steve Jobs' assertion that the company's three international production facilities are churning out tens of thousands of machines seems to be holding true.
At this point, the only fly in the hardware ointment appears to be reports of some shortages in Apple's professional desktop and notebook lines. Indeed, some recent marketing mysteries -- the appearance and disappearance of 366-MHz Power Macs and sporadic supply problems with the fastest of Apple's G3 PowerBooks -- seem to go hand-in-hand with the company's titanic effort to keep the channel stocked with iMacs.
Nevertheless, we remain impressed with how far Apple's hardware operation has come under the guidance of interim CEO Steve Jobs and Senior Vice President Jon Rubinstein. While jumping enthusiastically into the massive task of recapturing the consumer market, Apple has done a credible job of maintaining and incrementally advancing its professional lines.
Of course, Apple must move aggressively to deliver top-of-the-line machines to its professional customers even as it works on next-generation high-end systems that are rumored to rival the iMac for elegance and innovation. However, we believe that radically changing course will necessitate braving a few bumps in the road.
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