I saw an ad from Apple for its iLife suite on TIME magazine. In summary, the ad claimed that while you had Microsoft Office for your office, you needed an iLife for the rest of your life. The punch line was very good and in "Apple style" (only subtly rebellious this time though). This ad set me thinking...
Apple, for ages, has been promoting its hardware and software bundle as competition to the Intel plus Windows combo. If you wanted the eye-candy and cute OS of the Mac you either got an expensive Apple Mac system or settled for one of the Mac desktop themes that programs like WindowsBlinds offer (and sigh over your bad luck). You cannot get the Mac OS for your Intel PC.
This has allowed Microsoft to dominate the desktop PC market (Apple does not even call its Macs as "PCs" if I am not wrong). And Microsoft has been copying liberally from the Mac OS (one of the posters that Apple used to popularise its newest version of the Mac OS X Tiger says "Start your photocopiers, Redmond"!).
Why is Apple so fanatical about the Mac HARDWARE???
Why cannot Apple reinvent itself as a software company and sell the Mac OS (in addition to bundling hardware and software as proper "Macs" in case they feel sad about letting go of their flagship product)?
Basically the problem here is that Mac hardware is expensive. Like it or not, Intel PCs are far cheaper and more abundant than Macs. But the software that comes on Macs including the Mac OS, iLife, etc is all world-class and stuff that people would drool over and love to buy.
Please don't tell me that the cute graphics, excellent user interface and stability of the Mac OS can be achieved only on the Mac hardware.
As far as I can see, Apple has a great product - Mac software. But its somehow reluctant to make the jump from being a hardware manufacturer to a software provider.
Lets take the example of the Apple iPod (MP3 player, in case you didn't know) and the iTunes software (used to play music files). The iPod has become one of the fastest selling pieces of hardware that Apple has ever released from its stables. Though the initial versions of the iPod/iTunes were only for the Mac, Apple soon realized the broader market that it could access by making it Windows-friendly. So now we have the iPod hardware and iTunes software which work on the Windows platform as well.
In the process Apple is building a cult following (Apple is good at this) that swears by the iPod - and this has not only its traditional base of Mac users but also includes now a large number of Windows users as well.
There are also some isolated instances like the AirPort Express wireless hub (and the bundled AirTunes software) which Apple has released for the Mac as well as Windows platforms.
What prevents Apple from taking that big step and releasing Windows versions of all its software? I would love to get the iLife suite if it were available for Windows (don't Windows users need an "iLife"?).
Let Apple go one step further and release the wildly popular (but rarely used) Mac OS for the Intel platform. I am sure Microsoft will start feeling the heat almost immediately. This is really possible now since Apple has made the move to using a Unix-flavor operating system as a base for its newer Mac OS's.
Over time Apple could even start prescribing hardware standards for the Intel platform like how Microsoft does at its WinHEC conferences (ofcourse Apple already has the WWDC for its Mac hardware).
I think this is a perfect plan and we would then have a world full of color, creativity and fun. Did you know that most people that use the Mac do so because they feel they are more creative when they use one?
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2 comments:
Apple is like Cisco, they're a software company with a business model that's based on selling hardware. They tried being a pure software company for a while, remember the Mac Clones? They couldn't make the switch then, so I don't imagine they could make the switch now.
Oh, and if you want the next best thing to Mac OS on Intel hardware, don't mess around with the cute GUI effects. Install FreeBSD and Windowmaker and GNUstep applications.
I Use Mac computers for years and I have used PCs before. Once you have used to the Mac OS user experience, then you know the difference between a Mac and PC. Now that Macs are using the intel processors, you can Install Windows on a Mac natively or as virtualization on top of Mac OS. Also now Macs are almost same price as a similar PC hardware. Mac hardware is a piece of art work and no PC can match for it good looks. Macs do not have virus , spyware and security problems like in the Windows PCs and it is becoming very popular. It will take years for people to get noticed and Macs will be one day the Most sought personal computer. I have a G5 2.5 DP and a Power book G4. I can't imagine my life without it. If anyone interested in Mac history , should watch the movie "Pirates of the silicon vally".
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