Intel Macs in February? And no iWork updates yet?

by Chris Howard
Nov 30, 2005

As a Mac user, I’m always looking for clues about what Apple is up to. Now I’ve just seen that Apple Australia are offering MS Office at half price with new Macs:

Buy any new Mac and save up to 50% on Microsoft Office. There’s never been a better time to write a paper, manage a home, or set up a business. Because from now until 28 February 2006, you can get the perfect Mac and the perfect Office at the perfect price.

Intel Macs
What’s this mean for the Intel Macs? Would Apple have a promo like this that overlapped with new models? Maybe, except Office would have to run under Rosetta on an Intel Mac. So I can’t see Intel Macs being available during the course of this promo.

This doesn’t mean Apple won’t announce the Intel Macs earlier, such as at MacWorld San Francisco, but you can bet, at least in Australia, they won’t be available until 1 March at the earliest.

iWork updates
And would Apple be promoting Microsoft Office for the Mac over this period if they were releasing an update to iWork that included new apps such as a spreadsheet or database - that would then become more of a competitor to Office?

Okay, so a fair bit of hypothesizing but then I found that Apple US are offering the same deal - but in the US it expires on Jan 31, 2006. That’s almost proof for me. And that the US will get the Intel Macs a month earlier than Australia.

But if both new Intel Macs and a new iWork were coming out in Feb, who would buy in January? So again, it does raise doubts about iWork updates being announced at MWSF. This does seem to me to be partly aimed at keeping Mac sales moving after MWSF.

View Australia Apple promo: Apple - Promo - Office Bonus
View US Apple promo: Apple - Promo - Office Bonus

(Note: This entry originally appeared on my own blog, Qwertyrash, so no, I didn’t rip it off!)

Comments

1. You are reading too deeply I think. As long as Office runs in emulation (and I’m sure it does) MS would have no problem offering discounts with the expatiation of getting upgrades once they go native. This sounds more like a MS promo trying to keep sales up as people start to wait for the guaranteed free upgrade to a Intel version of Office. 

   As for iWork, it is not yet even contending with Office. It is a home product and office is a business product. One is about creativity and the other is about compatibility.

   I will say that it is a safe bet that when the first Intel based Mac’s show up that they will be constrained and as such non-US markets will be delayed by as much as a month as it seems to be with most products.

   If you want to think this deeply about product rollouts, riddle me this.

   If the rumors are true and both a mini and a laptop are announced in January, what chip will it use?

   How will that chip compare to the current 2Ghz G5 chips now shipping in the new iMac’s?

   Why I ask is because I can’t think of a good out come.

   If the chip is faster than the one in the iMac G5 sales of the iMac will tank until they rev the line (so why not just do it simultaneously). If it is slower than the G5 how much of an upgrade will this whole switch to Intel appear to be (especially with emulation and compatibility issues)?

   There is just not enough performance room between the iBook and mini and the iMac G5 for Apple to make what would appear to be a major performance update to the first two without having them run over the latter.

   I think it is likely that January will bring Intel announcements with late january early February introductions but it just seems to me that the announcements have to affect a larger section of the Mac line.

   By on 2005 11 30

2. Why does software go on sale?

   a) When a product is near an upgrade cycle

   b) Competition

   In this case, I think it’s ‘b’: Microsoft is scared of iWorks 2006. The more people that buy Office now, the fewer that will buy iWorks in January. Soak up all the potential iWorks buyers now.

   By on 2005 11 30

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