AppleInsider is claiming that the Mac Mini will be discontinued saying:
” Therefore, it comes as little surprise that sources, for whom AppleInsider holds the utmost respect, are now pointing towards the mini’s impending demise.”
I think that Apple may be making a big mistake with the Mac Mini if they discontinue it at this point. I believe that this was a slow death starting when they raised the price of the Mac Mini from $499 to $599. But now there is almost no reason to buy a Mac Mini unless you are low on cash or would like a more power full AppleTV-like device.
I don’t really doubt AppleInsider, especially since they say they hold the “utmost respect” for their source. I do however think that Apple may just be replacing the Mac Mini with a new computer possibly a more power full slightly larger computer.
The sub-$800 computer market is still one of the largest price points when it comes to sales, the Mac Mini was made to get people hooked into the Mac platform cheaply. The Mac Mini is a very important part to the Apple ecosystem. The MacBook might have become a more important part of the Apple ecosystem but the Mac Mini is still incredibly important. The only thing that I could think of that may be hurting sales of the Mac Mini causing Apple to want to drop it from its line is that unless you have a monitor keyboard and mouse it will cost you as much as a iMac for less power.
The fact is that the Mac Mini is really important and if/when they do kill it off they definitely need to replace it with something that can fill its place.
Read AppleInsiders Article on it here.