Apple limbo dances with hardware prices

Chops up to $1100 off servers

Apple has embarked on a New Year price cutting frenzy in a desperate bid to clear stock.

The vendor yesterday slashed up to $1100 off its Power Mac G4 servers, as well as the prices of its Power Mac G4 and trendy Power Cube G4 business desktops, and PowerBook G3 notebooks.

Abandoning its pre-Christmas rebate schemes - which failed to shift enough stock from dealers' shelves, despite cash back offers of up to $500 - it knocked $1000 off its dual 500MHz Power Mac G4, which now costs $2499, and $800 off the 500MHz PowerBook, now at $2199. The G4 server price has been chopped to $3099 from $4199.

The move came as Apple tried to shift inventory - which stood at around 11 weeks of build-up when it issued a profit warning last month. Current inventory estimates seem to waver between seven and 11.5 weeks. The vendor will also be trying to clear shelves before the MacWorld trade expo in San Francisco next week, an event where it traditionally debuts new products.

In December, Apple warned it expected to record a $225-250 million loss for the current quarter on sales of $1 billion - the vendor had previously forecast revenues of $1.6 billion. ®

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