MrDee Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Hi Folks, Sorry I haven't kept up with you as of late. I have been watching the Apple blogsphere though and one of those things that have kept my interest going is the development of Snow Leopard. We are all aware of its principles: - Improving Performance - Reducing Disk footprint - Making better use of graphics cards through OpenCL - Taking advantage of the multi-core CPUs from Intel through Grand Central - Better support of industry standard enterprise server technologies like Exchange Server and Active Directory - 64-bit support across the board - Intel x86 support only, no more PPC (Well, this one I am not sure about, but its looking like a definite). The last point brings up an interesting topic, with 10.6 most likely being the first x86 support only version of OS X, could Apple be signaling that they are planning to bring OS X for Intel to the mainstream by supporting on Tier One PC vendors such as Dell, HP, ACER and Lenovo? Many would say, Apple is still of the mantra that hardware plus software is what creates such a special experience and differentiates them from other vendors. True, but over the past 3 years, Apple has become a very open Company, from the support of the iPod on PC's, iTunes on Windows and eventual migration to x86 and Safari for Windows. These are some examples I personally believe Apple is giving the industry, that it might be time to give up on its well known traditions. January 2007 at Macworld was a great highlight with the Company changing its brand name from 'Apple Computers' to 'Apple Incorporated'. The move to support OS X on generic PC's is also something that would be met with considerable support. The OS X x86 Project and Community is the greatest example that people out there love Mac OS X! The fact that we have with each release, each update kept at the constant improvements, innovation, hacks to improve support on unsupported hardware, is probably very humbling to Apple. Recent speculation that Apple will be introducing cheaper notebooks is also a likely possibility that Apple could be toning down the PC Business, although they have emphasized great design and aesthetics which has brought them noterity in the Industry - MacBook Air, multi-touch. Apple is known as the leader in the innovation and creating standards we take for granted and PC vendors end up gobbling into their own products. This was amplified when Apple introduced the MacBook Pro with built in web-cam, others immediately followed. Regardless of all this, I believe software remains at the heart of Apple and the Company I believe would love for more people to experience the best of Apple. Thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Fogge Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Every part of your argument is entirely based on conjecture and has little basis in fact. You could have just as easily said "the snow has started to fall in portions of the US today. This is a sign that Snow Leopard is coming soon!" While it would definitely be in the best interest of the community to increase market share, Apple would be cannibalizing their own sales or a sale of lesser value if they pursue your suggestion. The point is that it is easy to make software that runs perfectly on a limited hardware set with a limited number of software interactions. The first time that someone brings home a new HP POS tower for $300 and finds themselves unable to use their webcam or some other hardware device with limited driver support, the customers freak out and blame the platform as a whole... much like what is going on continuously with Windows Vista. However, in that case, Microsoft pulled a "this is Vista Ready", yet not "Vista Supported", a distinction which will be tied up in court for years to come. End users don't care. Those are my thoughts... ~Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justvisiting Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 This will be easy to tell. OSX is based on darwin. if "bug fixes" supporting more SATA ICH{x} devices are being accepted, that's a huge hint right there. I don't think this will be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecwest Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hi Folks, Recent speculation that Apple will be introducing cheaper notebooks is also a likely possibility that Apple could be toning down the PC Business, although they have emphasized great design and aesthetics which has brought them noterity in the Industry - MacBook Air, multi-touch. Apple is known as the leader in the innovation and creating standards we take for granted and PC vendors end up gobbling into their own products. This was amplified when Apple introduced the MacBook Pro with built in web-cam, others immediately followed. Thoughts I think this is not correct. It makes more sense to believe that the lower priced Macs will cause more people to buy a Mac. If anyone here is familiar with Little Caesars Pizza and thier $5.00 Hot N Ready pizza, they will understand volume in numbers. By lowering the price, more units will likely be sold. This in turn can lower hardware costs by volume purchases. R&D costs will be cut by the same as it costs the same for R&D whether they actually make 50,000 or 75,000 units. The more units sold the less the R&D cost will be per unit, which in turn can cause a higher profit margin. This means you could actually make more by charging less. With the pizza example this is true also, with food supplies and the more costly portion labor. The employees get $7.00 (varies by location) per hour, no matter if they make ZERO pizzas or $5.00. I actually worked at one of these locations year ago. Before this promotion an average day would see 30 pizzas with $400 in sales, after the promotion started our location would sell 200 pizzas with over 1200 in sales per day. (other items were sold along with the pizzas) For the Mac, the higher volume of sales would make the Mac more commonplace and accepted in the community. This would also increase sales and profitability. What do you all think of this idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtraa Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 If I would be Steve... Step 1: I would make 10.6 running on any PC to get Windows people used to it. But. Step 2: Then, just release 10.7 with some extra features and make it Mac only again As a result, this strategy would push the Apple marketshare to 20 percent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmcnally Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Would be nice but can't see it happening. Apple needs to support things like Active Directory/Exchange if they are to survive in the modern office environment where MS dominates and you find the need to integrate with AD and Exchange, or you don't survive. OSX Server isn't suddenly going to decimate the Windows Server market. Apple needed to get iTunes onto Windows or iPod would be restricted to Mac Only Users. Would cut off the vast majority of the market. Would iTunes/iPod be as popular if Mac only. I certainly would not but a Mac just to get a music store/mp3 player. Apple needed to goto x86 as PPC just isn't moving forward fast enough and is basically dead in the desktop market. POWER is surviving in the high end big tin from IBM and thriving in consoles / embedded devices but the desktop no. If you put Safari onto Windows then as what most people at home use will be the Browser for Internet surfing, and webmail then people can get used to it and more likely to feel more comfortable switching to a mac in the long run. If they were targetting the generic Intel PC's and looking to launch a generic OSX for Intel then why the hassle with Psystar, why not just come to an agreement with them as the first OSX 10.6 license builder, rather then a cease and desist. It would be nice but I just don't see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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