Will the Mac mini be Apple’s biggest mistake since the Cube?
Aaron Adams, who starred in one of Apple's Switcher campaign commercials,
thinks so and lays out his case in this post on his website.
There are some people who might take offense at the thought that the Cube was a mistake. Cube enthusiasts argue that it was positioned incorrectly and to some of those people the
Mac mini has everything the Cube didn't without the hefty price tag that held the Cube back.
I should point out that I am a proud owner of a Cube, and that I placed my order for the Cube immediately after his Steveness unveiled it lo those many years ago. This year I did not place an order for the Mac mini, and I have no plans to. Does this mean I think the Mac mini is bound to fail?
Aaron points out that many people are hailing the Mac mini as a switchers' computer, however, he thinks that in most situations an eMac or iBook would make more sense for switchers. I think he is correct to a point, but the fact that you don't have to buy a monitor,
keyboard, and mouse will tempt some people who already own those pieces (assuming that the keyboard and mouse are both USB, something that most people with older computers might not realize).
The most salient point in Aaron's piece is that Apple needs to market the Mac outside of Macworld Expos. Everywhere you go there are iPod ads, as well as people listening to iPods. When was the last time you saw a commercial for the Mac?
Not only should Apple advertise their cool hardware, but they should make some noise about
OS X. Most people don't even realize that Apple makes an OS (I still remember all the compliments I got about my Titanium Powerbook immediately followed by, 'What version of Windows does it run?'). Why aren't we seeing ads all over the place saying, 'If you want to deal with Spyware get Windows.
Want to create movies, music, organize your digital life, and surf the web safely? OS X now available on all new Macs,' or something along those lines (an advertising genius I am not).
What do you think? Is the Mac mini the switcher's choice? Why isn't Apple marketing OS X aggressively?