FAQ: What's new with Apple's iMac?

Computerworld - Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs yesterday introduced three cheaper, revamped iMacs just as the back-to-school selling season ramps up.

The timing was important for another reason, too. The new models came just weeks after Apple's most recent earnings statement, which spelled out just how important Macs are to the company that dropped the word computer from its name in January. In the year's second quarter, Apple sold $2.53 billion worth of Macs, representing 47% of the its total revenue for the period. A year earlier, computers accounted for 43% of the company's sales in the same quarter.

"The iMac has been really successful for us. We'd like to make it even better," Jobs said near the start of his presentation (which you can watch on QuickTime video). "So how do we go about doing that?"

Exactly. How is Apple making its iconic desktop "better"? What follows is what could be gleaned from the 90-minute rollout.

What exactly did Apple reveal? The company refreshed its iMac desktop line for the first time since September 2006 by dropping some prices and raising others, by upgrading the machines to faster processors, and by dumping models with 17-in. screens. Apple also tweaked the Mac Mini and, on the software side, released iLife '08, an update to the consumer media suite bundled with every new Mac, added a spreadsheet to the sold-separately iWork '08, and massaged the .Mac Web mail and storage service.

What didn't happen that the Net's Nostradamuses had predicted? Although the iMac refresh was tops on everyone's list, some had gone out on a limb -- or into left field -- and forecast the death of the Mac Mini (nope), a bump-up of the MacBook clan to the faster Santa Rosa chip set (no) and a firm date for Leopard's launch (not that either).

Let's talk money and iMacs; what happened to prices? Apple's reputation for holding the line on prices has taken a hit or two of late, and yesterday's new lineup is a good example. The 20-in. model of Monday dropped $300, from $1,499 to $1,199 on Tuesday; and the 24-in. slipped $200, from $1,999 to $1,799. The catch -- there's always a catch -- is that the entry fee to iMacLand jumped $200, from $999 for the now-gone 17-in. to $1,199 for the cheapest member of the family.

No one should be shocked. Last September, Apple cut the price of the lowest-priced 17-in. model by $200 from its January introductory price of $1,199 and lowered the 20-in. model by the same amount.

But Jobs made it clear yesterday that Apple won't ever practice pricing slash-and-burn, at least while he's on watch. When a reporter asked if Apple's goal was to crack the PC's market-share lock, Jobs' answer was telling. "We can't do it; we can't ship junk," he said. "There are thresholds we can't cross because of who we are."