Here is an idea to sell some G5 iMacs into europe:

Introduce HDTV broadcasts to Europeans!

For example facts about the Netherlands
- We do not have HDTV broadcasts.
- On average we don't have huge sized TVs like Americans with
decent incomes.
- There are 6.935.000 households.
- There are 1.500.000 active broadband connections capable of
4096/640 Kbit/s, although many have opted for a cheaper and
limited dataspeed the service is available.

Here is what Apple could do:
- Introduce a 23 inch HDTV iMac with a videocard capable of
receiving the Pal/NTSC analog signal.
- Get a test broadcast contract for the Olympic Games and grab the
HDTV signal for US distribution.
- Distribute it with new Akamai servers only to European Apple iMac
buyers
- Store all Olympic recordings on a server for replay.
- Build a Quicktime player app with AES decoder and without a fast
forward button.

Users would:
- Watch their national Olympic broadcast and replace the video with
the HDTV signal over broadband internet from their local Akamai
repeater.
- Enjoy high resolution streaming replay on demand of any Olympic
event but without national commentary track or subtitles, but
with national Olympic sponser promo's at the beginning.

Advantages:
- Apple would sell lots of iMacs as people are amazed with the
picture quality previews seen at the Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Apple dedicated stores.

Disadvantages:
- Apple could miscalculate the broadcast contract and loose money
anyway despite a great sales peak.
- People may feel emptiness after the Olympic Games, to compensate
Apple should make sure that populair American shows recorded in
HDTV format are released in Europe for the HDTV iMac on custom
DVDs. (Apple could setup a bookclub where one receives a weekly
copy of, for example, CSI: Crime Scene Investigations.)
--
Dennis SCP