For Apple Folks

WallStreet Cheat Sheet is reporting:

The newest MacBook Air is faster and cheaper, with the most recent price tag of $899 for the base model of the 2014 MacBook Air making it closer in price to fellow laptop makers HP, Samsung, and Lenovo.

While portable computers options continue to spring up at prices ranging from $199 netbooks to $1,500+ for more high-end offerings, Apple’s slow downward trickle suggests that it’s more than just cheaper technology at work here. Apple may be attempting to become a more mainstream competitor in the laptop market.

Apple previously carried a lower priced laptop in the form of the MacBook, the predecessor to the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. They were quietly discontinued in 2011. The downward pricing of the latest MacBook Air starts to put it at prices below the original MacBook, with an initial price of $1,099 before taxes. Three MacBook Air options are that price or lower today.

There may be another reason. Apple users know that Apple computers last "forever." I have had my MacBook Pro for two years, and I love it. I have no reason to get something different. However, I love my wife's MacBook Air and was thinking about buying one this summer (after federal taxes, property taxes, etc are paid). I had convinced myself that the $999 price was "doable" but the new price, $899 -- although not that much different in the big scheme of things -- has convinced me to get an MacBook Air.

Coming down in price, Apple is not only looking for new customers, but is enticing Apple users who have no need to upgrade but were thinking about it. For Apple users, that's a big, big deal, and, it appears, Apple knows exactly what they are doing. I'm impressed.