Page 2 - The end of apple's common sense?

Mistake? It certainly didn't stop them from getting filthy rich.

No, but they would have been richer.

Hey, Anakin switched...
(mac-mocking flash cartoon)

User Friendly has something to say about this situation....

Moved to the Mac forum from the Lounge by request.

My prediction is that Apple will first move to x86, while continuing to manufacture its own PCs. Second, it will offer OSX for free, to rapidly expand the userbase for its media-sales-driven software suite (iLife). Third, it will discontinue production of PCs, relying on third party manufacturers that can make the PCs cheaper (Dell, HP, Gateway/eMachines, etc.).

Eventually, Apple will employ the same strategy with the iPod. As iPod sales wane in the coming years, it will open the FairPlay/AAC DRM solution to as many portable media player manufacturers as will take it, and move on to the next cash cow. In doing so, Apple will continually shed product lines which have waned in popularity (and therefore have also declined as revenue generators), while simultaneously expanding the potential install-base for its products (and therefore the install base of it's software, which in turn drives customers towards media content sales).

Sounds reasonable. Let somebody else do the hardware (this is where apple still has the most trouble with) and concentrate on their other business. There's enough big PC manufacturers already.

The big boys seem to see big future in the content industries. Microsoft is going the same route too, so why shouldn't Apple. Hmmm. MacDVD Player. MacHD Recorder. MacMobile Phone - All with the wonderful proprietary Quicktime instead of the evil WMV... Ugh...
... But they can't drop old "cows" for new ideas. The end would be coming too soon.

Yes, it could make sense if they wanted to drop the home computing business. But I doubt. The new areas of business are additions, not meant to replace their original ideas.

I still don't think they'll give away OSX for free. Maybe some hundred or thousands for gifts at the events they will make then. Borland did something like this some months ago, now ebay is flooded with people selling these "gifts". Good promotion.

Maybe OEM manufacturers will get it much cheaper, even for free. ...They'll kick MS' ***

M.

Maybe they won't give it away for free... but, if their goal is to both expand their user base and to drive media/iPod(etc) sales, I think that giving the OS away for free to greatly help drive those goals.

Anyhow, who knows what Apple will do... they've always got a trick or two up their sleeves.

There's an interesting, if brief, article on this at Librenix

"Above all, Apple is still a hardware company and a switch to commodity hardware -- or even making their new computers PC compatible -- would be a far more dangerous business risk than simply switching CPU architectures. Apple is not changing their business plan. They are changing their processor architecture and supplier only."

They also make the interesting point that this has been done mainly for laptops. Laptops are outselling desktop machines, and Apple have had a lot of difficulty getting the G5 processors into a laptop.

--Simon

I don't know, especially when Apple has explicitly stated this was not going to be allowed.

They wish!

As soon as there is a x86 based OSX, there will be drivers for all kinds of hardware. Remember, Darwin = Open Source and porting a x86 driver from *BSD to Darwin is rather trivial.
What else could they do to prevent me installing OSX on a Dell once they released OSX/x86?
- A hardware serial number check? - I'll crack it in a few hours, but the kids on the 'net will be faster than me anyways.
- Legal threats? - We know how effective these are
- Product activation? - same
- DRM/TCPA? LinuxPenguin, now you do make me worry...

M.