Limbaugh could sell new Mac

The Hill ^ | 1/26/05 | David Hill

[Vermonter]

Limbaugh could sell new Mac

This week, Apple Computer is launching a campaign to sell a new product, the $499 Mac Mini, that portends to transform the world in a way the original Mac didn’t. But Republicans will be needed for the campaign to succeed.

To put this in context, you need to read Revolution in the Valley, Andy Hertzfeld’s new book about the making of the original Mac in the 1980s. Hertzfeld points out that the initial target price for the first Mac was $500. But by the time it was launched in 1984, the price had ballooned to $2,495.

Many of the Mac’s creators felt betrayed. All initial design goals had centered on Everyman, but instead of a computer that changed the world, the Mac became a niche machine mainly for artisans and limousine liberals who could afford one. The rest of us bought commodity PCs. Fewer than one in 20 computers sold or used today to cruise the Internet is a Mac.

The Mac Mini could rectify this. But will it? Will a low price tag and terrific design alone entice a mass market to buy this new product? I’m not so sure. Apple’s image may still be an impediment to Mac sales.

To research this column, I read lots of discussion boards all across the Internet, and it’s evident that politics still play a role in computer purchases. Just as there are red states and blue states, there are also Mac Democrats and PC Republicans. These battles were especially nasty after Apple went public with its politics and added Al Gore to its board of directors.

Apple’s leader, Steve Jobs, seems to have sensed last year that his company was getting too “political.” He backed off some of his campaigning for John Kerry and cryptically signaled to The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg in an interview that he understands the problem.

“People have said that I shouldn’t get involved politically because probably half our customers are Republicans — maybe a little less ... [but] I do point out that there are more Democrats than Mac users so I’m going to just stay away from all that political stuff because that was just a personal thing,” Jobs said.

There are, in fact, devoted Republican Macintosh users, but that is not the perception. So Apple desperately needs to introduce a replacement image to achieve the original Mac’s vision. There would be no better way to do this than to add a Republican or two to Apple’s board of directors. Mac users such as Karl Rove or Arnold Schwarzenegger adviser Mike Murphy would be possibilities, but Rush Limbaugh is the most obvious choice. Rush is an ardent Mac evangelist and knows a thing or two about marketing. Even if Limbaugh is not put on Apple’s board, the company should market through his daily radio program, paying Rush to tout his favorite computer the same way he builds mattress sales for Select Comfort.

Hertzfeld’s book says the team that created the original Mac had a spirit of “urgency, ambition, passion for excellence, artistic pride, and irreverent humor.” That sounds just like Rush Limbaugh to me. I know that if Rush had been a board member in 1984, he’d have had the guts to back the famous Big Brother Super Bowl ad that Apple’s then-timorous board abandoned.

Apple marketers also need to understand that restoration of their brand’s image in conservative and Republican circles can resonate with various factions of the party. I have already read favorable gun-owner comments about the Mac Mini on the discussion boards of Ted Nugent’s populist United Sportsmen of America website. James Dobson and his Focus on the Family might be intrigued by a computer that is affordable for young families and not subject to porno pop-up ads. And business Republicans will be impressed by the seamless integration of the Mac’s OS X operating system with corporate networks.

The Republican Party is a big tent. Apple should come on in.

[golas1964]

Yeah, I got mine straight from the Tempur-pedic website. I was too impatient to look for a better deal. But the mattress is great and I'm happy I got it.

[Melas]

iTunes rocks

The iPod and iTunes is a combination that can't beat. I take all of my music everywhere I go on the iPod, and stream my music all over the house with Airtunes. Hats off to Apple for these products....for my PC.

[golas1964]

...The Select-Comfort mattress is designed for two people. I'm a happy bachelor and I like to sleep in the middle of the bed, which I knew I couldn't do on a Select-Comfort, hence my decision to go with the Tempur-pedic. It's like a waterbed without the water...

[MrsEmmaPeel]

It is fabulous! We got ours from a Brookstone Dept Store in our local mall. They were running a special that month. I must admit, we didn't shop around much either. We tried it and we were sold! There is nothing quite like it!

[Right Wing Assault]

"The Select-Comfort mattress is designed for two people."

You can get them either for one or two people. The two person one has separate air bladders and a divider. The one person version doesn't.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

The biggest difference between the 2 is the fact that the tempurpedic bed goes all the way to the edge. The Select Comfort does not. There is about a 4" mattress edging in which there is no air chamber at all. So, if you like to sleep on the edge of the bed (I sometime do), you get zip support. Tempurpedic doesn't have that problem.

[golas1964]

I used to be a mobile-DJ. My CD collection exceeds 5000 CDs. I got tired of lugging the whole collection around with me. So since Sept 2002, I've embarked on a project to rip the best stuff from every CD I've got, one letter of the artist/group alphabet at a time. (just passed 30,000 songs) I'm using the AAC format (MP-4). I've got half of B, C and S to finish and I'm done! (was working on Jackson Browne and James Brown tonight) Next time I do a gig I can leave the CDs at home.

[A CA Guy]

They are applesauce.

[golas1964]

Oh OK! I went to the website and it looked like they were all designed for two people...

[Frohickey]

Does anyone know if there is a browser for the I-Book that will handle popup blockers? I got an I-Book handed down to me from my daughter with IExplorer 5 on it.

Yeah. The web browser that Apple ships with Macs, Safari, can block pop-up windows.

[golas1964]

oops, I meant Sept 2003... expect to finish S at the end of May

[jimfree]

The annoying thing in the middle I perceived as a trough. If I moved toward the center I was sinking. The help desk sent me some additional foam to stuff in there so it's hardly noticeable. The lumbar effect from the Select Comfort is far superior to another air bed we have used.

[jimfree]

Limbaugh could sell the new Mac to conservatives, no problem. The problem would be that liberals would then boycott Apple because Rush was promoting the brand.

If that will work like the orange juice boycott the NAGs attempted in Florida I would buy Apple stock as soon as the promotion agreement is announced.

[Swordmaker]

Negative. The plug is different. The multi-sync is not a standard VGA monitor. It was designed to support the MAC with a special cable. I have one of those as well but it was not the $100 cheapy that others have described.

Joe, I do not appreciate being called a liar... and I am sure the fellow you responded to originally didn't either.

I can easily set up an antique Apple Mac IIsi to work with a "STANDARD" VGA monitor with one of those adaptors:

Adapters were made for both nine and fifteen pin monitors. Heck, I had a bag full of them in my garage... several dozen assorted types I bought at an auction at a local college that I eventually sold to a reseller... Using this simple adaptor, the IIsi would, however, be limited to the standard VGA resolution of 640 x 480. With the one or another adaptor, you could hook the Mac up to any 15 pin VGA monitor. In fact, with a more sophisticated adaptor that allowed you to select the pin for the sync signal, the IIsi could support a VGA, SVGA (800 x 600), XGA (1024 x 768) and the Multisync monitors made by many manufacturers which allowed you to change rez on the fly.

Just because YOU couldn't do it says a lot more about your lack of knowledge of old Macs... and your attitude and rudeness toward fellow freepers says a lot about you.

But, Joe, what in hell does a Macintosh introduced 15 years ago and discontinued 12 years ago, have to do with a modern Mac introduced last week? Every Mac released in the past five years can use a standard PC monitor of any stripe either directly or with an included adaptor.

Now YOU can continue to live in the past... it's okay. Really... just don't spread incorrect information and call those who DID these things liars!

[solitas]

Want the DVD burner ? - add another $100
With the 1.4 Ghz and 80 Gig drive upgrade, you're up to about $700 ....

Don't forget: 256meg standard, +$75 to get to 512meg; +$425 to get to a gig(!). WTF???

[Melas]

Man that's awesome. The Hardrive based Mp3 player is surely the product of the decade.

[js1138]

It is ironic that my son's new Mac comes with the ubiquitous Microsoft Office.

Bill Gates owns 20 percent of Apple. It's Win/win for him.

[Swordmaker]

$425 to get to a gig(!). WTF???

Apple dropped that memory upgrade price by $150 a couple of days after the Mac Mini was introduced.

[ThinkDifferent]

In fact, with a more sophisticated adaptor that allowed you to select the pin for the sync signal, the IIsi could support a VGA, SVGA (800 x 600), XGA (1024 x 768) and the Multisync monitors made by many manufacturers which allowed you to change rez on the fly.

Interesting, I could never get more than 640x480 out of my IIsi, must not have had the right adaptor. Great machine though, up until 2001 I had mine acting as a router/NAT sharing the modem connection on my home network.

[ThinkDifferent]

Bill Gates owns 20 percent of Apple.

Er, no.