by , 8:00 AM EDT, August 18th, 2003
A very interesting article in the New York Times says that Apple will have G5s in stores today. The article also notes that Apple has pre-sold some 100,000 G5s, which far outpaces Apple's desktop performance in recent quarters. The Times article is broadly about the arrival of 64-bit desktop computing from both AMD and Apple (IBM makes the processor), as well as Intel's different approach to the 64-bit market. The piece starts off, however, with a very complimentary look at Apple. The news that got us excited is the comment about G5s being in Apple Stores starting today, and the number of units Apple has sold. From the article:
Apple Computer has recently received much applause for its iTunes music service. But its new Power Mac G5 computers, set to arrive in stores today, will probably have a much larger impact on the world of personal computing.
Apple already has 100,000 orders for its G5 machines, which are priced at $2,000 to $3,000, depending on the configuration. The breakthrough is that the computers use 64-bit microprocessors, a significant step beyond the 32-bit processors on current Apple machines and most Windows-based PCs.
There's more in the full article about 64-bit computing, what it is, who can use it, and what markets will first make use of the technology. The newspaper also says that Adobe will release software on Tuesday that makes Photoshop up to 200% faster on the G5. This is most likely the same version of Photoshop we saw Apple demonstrate at June's WWDC.
While Apple has pre-sold some 100,000 Power Mac G5s, the company sold but 133,000 Power Mac units in the entire June quarter, and 167,000 in the 2002 June quarter. The current quarter ends in September, and is the company's fiscal 4th quarter. That 100,000 unit figure does not include any of the Power Mac G4 units that are still available as Apple's entry-level professional desktop offering.
Apple was not available at press time to confirm this report.
Note that at an average price of some US$2,500, 100,000 units sold equates to some US$250 million in gross sales. Note, too, that some of that will be going to retailers, and will not be counted in Apple's income. Since we suspect that the dual 2 GHz processor units will prove to be the most popular, that number could easily be higher. Of course, there is another 6 weeks in the current quarter, and we await the effect on sales once these machines are actually available. No matter how you slice it, however, the G5 is off to an auspicious start for Apple.