Proposal for a Mac mini switcher commercial
Erik of NSLog() asks: "Did Apple position the Mac mini appropriately (i.e. well enough to avoid a "Cube" debacle)?"
Definitely. If the blogosphere is any indication, the Mac mini is already a hit.
My only concern is that Apple is able to keep up with demand. But hopefully Apple has some spare factories around the world that can spin up production. They seem to have kept up the pace with the iPods, although they had an initial backlog with the iPod minis.
Ideally, there are tons of Mac minis (with upgraded RAM) that are sitting in the Apple stores that potential switchers and iCheapos can pick up, hook up to their existing keyboard, mouse, and display, and play with the same day. Hmm... maybe CompUSA and MicroCenter can finally start contributing big-time to Apple revenues, as PC users/switchers wander over to check out the Mac minis.
I can already see the updates of classic iMac commercials, where you just plug in the power and the phone line (for the modem) and off you go. But instead, here's how I see it:
Fade in...
Joe Switcher banging his generic PC keyboard, upset over something. Malware? Virus? Need to download 3 critical security patches? Screen is blurred but maybe has windows for all 3 of these to illustrate.
Joe picks up his iPod mini, puts his buds on, and walks around the room to relax. He spots his latest PC Magazine and spots on the back cover: "Mac mini: stable, powerful, elegant. From the makers of the iPod mini."
Intrigued, Joe drives out to the Apple store, sees the Mac mini hooked up to an iPod mini and check out iTunes. He uses iTunes on Windows, but the Mac version seems even better.
Joe walks over to the photo section and is impressed by iPhoto 2005, especially the in-program editing, and remembers that he has a digital camera that he doesn't use too much because the included software and downloading of the images was kind of a pain.
Joe decides to give it a shot, since the iPod mini has been pretty good. He buys one, drives home, unplugs his keyboard, mouse, monitor, and cable modem. He re-plugs all these into the Mac mini and is up and running.
Joe then plugs in his iPod mini via Firewire and populates his iTunes, all much faster than his old USB sync. He also plugs in his digital camera and is amazed that iPhoto starts itself, recognizes his camera, and he populates iPhoto with the contents of his camera.
Fade out on a happy Joe Switcher...
The only thing that would be even better is if the Mac mini had a "Switch" button in the Dock, where you could plug in a PC via USB and transfer all your files from My Documents, etc over. (Too bad PCs can't go into Firewire Target Disk mode.)
Now that'd be a sweet commercial.