Tommo's point about marketing more expensive products during a recession is valid. The basic Mac Mini has risen in cost in the UK by 25%.
More than likely, the price increases have to do with the conversion rate between the dollar and whatever other currency is used in your country. The dollar has, surprisingly, been going up in value. This is reflected with increased prices overseas because of the conversion rate. I doubt it has anything to do with the recession... the recession and the value of the dollar may be related, but the recession and the price of the iMac in foreign countries have little in common (although they may be indirectly related, I don't think that "marketing costs" figure into the increased cost of computers).
fryke said:
The move to the small keyboard (sans numpad) as _standard_ will be authorized resellers' hell, I'm sorry to say. While the small keyboard looks good in photos (makes the iMacs seem larger, heh...), my guess is that over 90% of people will prefer the numpad-version. Which means that people will want to change from the default which means CTOs. CTOs don't have stock protection (I'm sure Apple's own stores don't have that problem), which means that the _next_ time Apple changes the lineup, we'll either sit on old machines, lose money or we'll just have to buy standard machines and replace the mini-keyboards with bigger ones, which means we'll end up with tons of small keyboards that we'd need to sell those with Mac minis. But because Apple doesn't give resellers much headroom on the keyboards, we won't be able to lower the price for those much, which means that Mac mini customers will opt for the default keyboard as well. Darn you, Apple.
I don't see it this way. Consumers will use what Apple gives them, and it would be silly to think that Apple is somehow "forcing" the keyboard on us or is doing it with the intention of being covert or underhanded.
I think Apple realizes that most of their customers and user base are not "power users" -- while I like to
think I'm in the majority, in fact, I am not. And neither are you, fryke. Apple doesn't market to us -- it would be silly of them to do so... like flushing money down a toilet. You don't market to the minority, you market to the majority. And the majority in this case are not business users nor power users (the two segments of the population that want/need a numeric keypad).
Power users use the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro ships with a keyboard with a numeric keypad, standard.
Apple's main population segment target uses iMacs. The iMac ships with a keyboard that lacks a numeric keypad (although you can "upgrade" for $0.00).
The fact of the matter is that most of Apple's target population segment won't miss the keypad. They didn't use it all that much in the first place. Go over to any non-power-user's house and take a look at their beige-colored, PC keyboard. See how much dirt and grime is built up on the alpha keys? See how the numeric keypad has a noticeable
lack of said dirt and grime?
Apple dropped the keypad because most people don't use it. Apple's target population segment don't own huge desks, because they're not power users and don't have expansive home offices. They have the $30 Wal-Mart computer cart with a keyboard/mouse tray that is a foot and a half wide. By dropping the keypad, that affords the average home user more desktop real estate, making the computing experience more comfortable (in addition to making the new iMac look even bigger in comparison).
I wouldn't buy the keyboard sans keypad, but then again, I'm a power user who would most definitely CTO from the online Apple store. Most of the people frequenting Apple stores where there is no CTO are either first-time buyers or non-power-users. They won't even know the difference, and even if someone walked up to them and was all, "Hey, dumbass! You just bought a computer that has a keyboard that LACKS A NUMERIC KEYPAD!" they wouldn't care one way or the other.
Kind of like if some gamer walked up to me and said, "Hey, dumbass! You just bought a computer that has a case that LACKS NEON LIGHTING!" I wouldn't care one way or the other (and probably be glad for the lack of, too).
