Why Apples budget iMac makes sense...

So as many reviews online have been stating Apples new budget iMac is one to stay away from, some have gone as far as saying Apple is short-changing customers by giving them 50% less computer for a 18% reduction in price.

Whats important here is the question of - Who Apple is attempting to attract with such machines? I do not believe for one second that the consumer desktop market is what Apple are hoping to take over with this reduced price iteration, but rather it is obvious that Apple have set its sights on the Corporate / B2B customer. Most B2B customers buy in bulk and do not run processor intensive tasks, many run VMware off dedicated servers hence the box that its employees sit in front of is merely an input/output device connecting the person to the companies server, with this in mind all that computer offers is access to a network and hence the hardware requirements for such computers is minimal. The question therefore becomes - Is $1099 not too much to spend when windows equivalents can be easily procured for a fraction of the price, my guess would be that Apple will not only offer huge discounts to its Corporate clients, but may even lease out the machines with support packages providing them with extremely fruitful business.

Apple is well positioned currently to push forward with such a move, especially as 97% of fortune 500 companies currently endorse the iPhone and 98% use the iPad in some way, shape, or form, therefore meaning that the Computer is the final piece of the puzzle for Apple.  

If done correctly Apple can not only begin to pry away enterprise customers from Microsofts dominant base but, it could signal yet another new beginning for Apple. For those cynics that thought Apple is close to having its day, I would say watch-out, as from where i'm sitting, Apple is far from done with being market leader and i'm pretty certain that we will be seeing a lot more of Apple, whether it be at work or at home.