.Mac: No. 2 seller in Apple retail, next big thing?

News Type: Event — Seeded on Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:09 AM EST

Article Source: MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

technology, internet, apple, online, mac, dot-mac

Apple's second hottest seller this year has been little more than an empty box, since the company's retail stores are selling large amounts of the .Mac packages – largely due to the integration of the service with Mac OS X and iLife. Computerworld reports that the .Mac retail box, which contains a serial number on a slip of paper and empty space for the most part, has been leaping off shelves at the Apple stores. According to NPD research analyst Chris Swenson, this could indicate a growing trend with software developers, offering a boxed idea or service, rather than distributing software for users to install on their machine.

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5.2

{"commentId":1262454,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

Well, I guess that I was wrong. Years ago I bought a Apple Mac and iTools (predecessor to .Mac) was free. I had a .mac email address for a few months and then Apple decided to start charging for their online services including .mac email addresses. I thought Apple would need to give away something for free (email?) in order to get people to buy their online services. Now I guess I was wrong as .mac is the second biggest seller at Apple Stores.

{"commentId":1262454,"threadId":"188187","contentId":"1158553","authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

2 votes

#1 - Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:31 AM EST

{"commentId":1262571,"authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

AdipicAcid

Well technically they do give away something for free: iLife is pre-installed on every new Mac and has a lot of .Mac integration in it. It's not much, but it appears to be the incentive.

{"commentId":1262571,"threadId":"188187","contentId":"1158553","authorDomain":"acidreflux"}

2 votes

#1.1 - Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:15 AM EST

{"commentId":1262923,"authorDomain":"brianford"}

Brian Ford

I held off on .Mac for a long time. It simply wasn't worth it until this last revision. (For me, anyway.)

Integration with iWeb and iPhoto made it a must have, and it was well worth the $79.

I'm a bit surprised that they're selling all that packaging, though -- they've made a big deal about cutting down their iPod packaging, and to sell a number in a largish box seems silly, to me.

{"commentId":1262923,"threadId":"188187","contentId":"1158553","authorDomain":"brianford"}

4 votes

#1.2 - Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:13 PM EST

{"commentId":1262828,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

s far as the next big thing goes, isn't Firefox considering .mac-like add-ons?

{"commentId":1262828,"threadId":"188187","contentId":"1158553","authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

2 votes

#2 - Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:37 AM EST

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.Mac: No. 2 seller in Apple retail, next big thing?

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