What would destroy Apple?

[steebu]

So Apple's got the hottest digital music player of all time, have 75% marketshare of all mp3 players with the iPod brand, and big media's attention.

Dare we make comparisons to the demise of the Macintosh? Will history repeat itself?

Who/what would destroy Apple? Or for that matter, how could Apple destroy itself?

I dare you to think.

[dogbone]

Probably a small well placed atomic device would do the trick.

[Deepdale]

Apple is enjoying a renaissance and I would prefer to skirt the issue of its destruction, be it from within or external forces. In the kill or be killed technology field, all things are possible ... let us help keep the positive energy flowing for as long as possible.

[liketom]

an asteroid would do the trick

[mpw]

What would destroy Apple?
A Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Ironically on a Monday too, right before they would've released the product that would've saved them. The iSpider.

[FireArse]

A Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Ironically on a Monday too, right before they would've released the product that would've saved them. The iSpider.

HAHAHAHA LOL

:)

I also think that if there was some sort of virus or attack to OS X which would make headlines - that might make people think - oh no, we've got another XP on our hands.

Keep the vulnerabilities away Apple!!

[Mac4Brains]

If Adobe stopped makeing stuff for the Mac. It would end Apple with in half a year.

[BakedBeans]

If Adobe stopped makeing stuff for the Mac. It would end Apple with in half a year.

HAHHAHAHHHAHAHA

What a beauty.

It was a joke.... right? RIGHT!?!?!

[Blue Velvet]

HAHHAHAHHHAHAHA

What a beauty.

It was a joke.... right? RIGHT!?!?!


It would certainly make a lot of people pause for thought. Like it or not, as far as selling computers (not iPods) are concerned, Apple has been kept in business by the print and other creative industries throughout its existence. These are the industries that purchase Macs by the dozens at a time...

Look how shirty Apple got when Quark was dragging their heels on an OSX version of QuarkXpress -- Apple knows where its bread and butter core market for Macs lies. When Fred Ibrahimi of Quark started making extremely disparaging remarks about the Mac platform a few years ago, Apple got extremely nervous about it. Of course, this was when Quark had a near monopoly on the page layout market.

If Photoshop, Illustrator or Acrobat was no longer available for Mac, then yes, I could imagine many studios switching to Windows. Not that they'd be entirely happy about it.

[BakedBeans]

It would certainly make a lot of people pause for thought. Like it or not, as far as selling computers (not iPods) are concerned, Apple has been kept in business by the print and other creative industries throughout its existence. These are the industries that purchase Macs by the dozens at a time...

Look how shirty Apple got when Quark was dragging their heels on an OSX version of QuarkXpress -- Apple knows where its bread and butter core market for Macs lies. When Fred Ibrahimi of Quark started making extremely disparaging remarks about the Mac platform a few years ago, Apple got extremely nervous about it. Of course, this was when Quark had a near monopoly on the page layout market.

If Photoshop, Illustrator or Acrobat was no longer available for Mac, then yes, I could imagine many studios switching to Windows. Not that they'd be entirely happy about it.

none of that means apple would go bust in 6 months though does it. just because adobe pulled its products it wouldnt mean it would bring apple down in in 24 weeks.

[Blue Velvet]

none of that means apple would go bust in 6 months though does it. just because adobe pulled its products it wouldnt mean it would bring apple down in in 24 weeks.

No, it wouldn't. Not in 6 months... which I was careful to avoid agreeing with. ;)

[Abstract]

I think BakedBeans pointed out the "6 months" part of the post because he probably realized that Adobe has a good chance to make Apple Crumble.

[wordmunger]

Yes, Adobe is big. Especially now that they've subsumed Macromedia. Which is why the Photo Pro rumors have so much traction. Even if Photo Pro is real, there still wouldn't be a decent illustration, page layout, or Web design program without Adobe.

[Blue Velvet]

I think BakedBeans pointed out the "6 months" part of the post because he probably realized that Adobe has a good chance to make Apple Crumble.

Nice one. I always like a bit of word-play. :)
Of course, there's always Apple Cobbler(s) as well.

[Bern]

No chance of Adobe giving Apple the flick now that Apple have finally gone Intel just as Adobe wanted.

[BakedBeans]

Nice one. I always like a bit of word-play. :)
Of course, there's always Apple Cobbler(s) as well.

oh be quite you apple tart ;)

adobe is always going to want a slice of the apple pie!

anyway, i think adobe would be a bunch of cox to squeeze apple' juice like that!



:D

[jdechko]

I also think that the MBU over at Microsoft is very important to Apple's survival and growth through switchers. Without it, there is no VPC and, more importantly, no Office. And without "Microsoft Office" how will we open the office files that 90% (random figure) of the world creates. And it doesnt seem like there is a great alternative out there for the masses.

[Sun Baked]

Probably a small well placed atomic device would do the trick.Or something more mundane like root rot, fruit flies, or a simple arsonist lighting the orchard on fire.

[steelfist]

well, if there is no microsoft office, then apple's own office products would be a lot better and simaler to microsofts'. without a good office program, apple will crumble, so they will have to create their own office suite. and things would be very very different. maybe worse, but maybe even better. if apple has a very good reason to make a complete office suite, then they will.

the biggest threat to apple is a possibility that a assasination attempt by a group of ex-military mercenaries hired by Bill gates to continue his growinge control of the world. soon he will create a statue of himself as high as the twin towers and force us to bow down to it. (just to note, i don't make fun of the bible. i use the bible to make fun of him)

[Marky_Mark]

well, if there is no microsoft office, then apple's own office products would be a lot better and simaler to microsofts'. without a good office program, apple will crumble, so they will have to create their own office suite.

If Apple made it so Apple Works opened and saved in MS Office formats, and iT/QT opened and read Microsoft-formatted media files, then they wouldn't need to rely on on Microsoft for very much at all. The only reason I have (shudder) Windows Media Player and Office on my iBook is to be able to pass other people's work across my desk.

[iMeowbot]

Dare we make comparisons to the demise of the Macintosh? Will history repeat itself?
Apple never had as much success with computers (the Mac peaked at about 10 per cent, Apple II at about 15) as they do now with toys. This is the first time they have really been dominant in a mass market, so there really isn't any history to repeat.

[Dagless]

a sony prtable viedo playur lol

[Sun Baked]

Radio Shack could buy Apple and rename the iMac G5 the TRS-8000, and rename the iPods the Optimus MP3 player.

[ftaok]

Apple never had as much success with computers (the Mac peaked at about 10 per cent, Apple II at about 15) as they do now with toys. This is the first time they have really been dominant in a mass market, so there really isn't any history to repeat.
Actually, I think the Mac peaked at around 20%. This was back in the 68k days. Probably in the early 90s.

But I can't be bothered to verify the things I say, so maybe you're right.

[StinktOldC]

oh be quite you apple tart ;)

adobe is always going to want a slice of the apple pie!

anyway, i think adobe would be a bunch of cox to squeeze apple' juice like that!



:D
very good Beanie......like it!

[iMeowbot]

Actually, I think the Mac peaked at around 20%. This was back in the 68k days. Probably in the early 90s.
Mid-1980s, if you combine Apple II and Mac sales. Even that combined 20% wasn't dominant (PCs and C64 both were selling better at the time).

[_bnkr612]

Radio Shack could buy Apple and rename the iMac G5 the TRS-8000, and rename the iPods the Optimus MP3 player.

Perfect.

[jaw04005]

1. If Microsoft created a file system that was not compatible (read/write) with Mac OS X and SAMBA.

2. If Microsoft locked down their office file formats and refused to release new versions of Mac office.

3. If Adobe ditched the Mac, and released Photoshop and the Creative Suite only on Windows.

4. If Congress passes a new law that voids prior fair use laws, and mandates all forms of copy protection must be compatible. Then, Apple engages in copy protection war with Microsoft and loses. End of iPod.

5. If former Apple resellers rob the bank that holds Apple's 3 billion dollars in cash reserves. :P

6. Google decides to distribute free computers to everyone in the world, and they ship with Google OS.

There are numerous scenarios, but I doubt any are realistic or will be happening soon. :)

[Dagless]

What is keeping Office on OSX? Maybe I'm a little uneducated with M$'s history but why make their arguably most popular software for their rival company?

i suppose Steve would stick his fingers up too, bye bye PC iPod support?

[Lacero]

Internal complacency and bureucracy. The very thing afflicting Microsoft. Muhahaha!!!!

[OnceUGoMac]

Apple's a corporation. Corporations are damn near impossible to kill. Look at IBM. The started by making typewriters, now look at them. Viacom is an advertising firm, look at them now. Apple will survive.

[ftaok]

What is keeping Office on OSX? Maybe I'm a little uneducated with M$'s history but why make their arguably most popular software for their rival company?

i suppose Steve would stick his fingers up too, bye bye PC iPod support?
Microsoft has at least two reasons to develop Office for Macs. One, it keeps the Justice Dept of their backs. Two, they make money.

As for the assertion that Apple is Microsoft's rival, I disagree. Honestly, Microsoft probably doesn't see Apple as a true threat. Google is their current main threat. The only thing that Microsoft is truly in competition with Apple right now is with multimedia formats (i.e. AAC vs. WMA, and h.264 vs. WMV-HD).

Also, if Apple decides to cut off iPods from Windows, they'll instantly lose about $30 off of their stock price. Not to mention 95% of their iPod sales.

[iDM]

Radio Shack could buy Apple and rename the iMac G5 the TRS-8000, and rename the iPods the Optimus MP3 player.

Hillarious, absolutely, hillarous.

I love Radio Shack branded products you gotta chuckle at there portable phones and RC cars.

[iDM]

Microsoft has at least two reasons to develop Office for Macs. One, it keeps the Justice Dept of their backs. Two, they make money.

As for the assertion that Apple is Microsoft's rival, I disagree. Honestly, Microsoft probably doesn't see Apple as a true threat. Google is their current main threat. The only thing that Microsoft is truly in competition with Apple right now is with multimedia formats (i.e. AAC vs. WMA, and h.264 vs. WMV-HD).

Also, if Apple decides to cut off iPods from Windows, they'll instantly lose about $30 off of their stock price. Not to mention 95% of their iPod sales.

In response to this post and the one before, i thought i remember hearing a quote from Bill Gates that went something like, "For every Mac that is sold and that uses Office Software, Microsoft makes more off the sale then Apple does."

Which to interpret means when Apple sells an iMac with the latest technology(don't flame me i know people are bitter about upgrades) there margin is not nearly as high as when Micro$oft sells a couple of cds with documentation, b/c besides R&D costs + Advertisements to produce the cd's and documentation only costs them what a few cents, but they sell this software for a couple hundred, understand? I'm sure someone will correct one of my figures but i think you get the point.

[TheMasin9]

If Adobe stopped makeing stuff for the Mac. It would end Apple with in half a year.


I dont know if it would end apple. it would put a huge dent in thier sales though. I do believe that apple/adobe are hard in it together and that would never happen. I do think that if that were to happen apple would come out with its own creative suite and that it would possibly rival adobes stuff.

[ZoomZoomZoom]

If both adobe + microsoft pulled out of making software for macs, and if windows gets more secure, and if laptops made by other companies stepped up their build quality, then I'd quit using mac after my software gets outdated.

[Josh]

Google, releasing a web-based OS, in such a way that you could access your personal settings, desktop, and files, from any computer in the world that has an internet connection.

:D

[andiwm2003]

If both adobe + microsoft pulled out of making software for macs, and if windows gets more secure, and if laptops made by other companies stepped up their build quality, then I'd quit using mac after my software gets outdated.


zoom is making a good point. in order to kill apple withdrawing a single app is not enough. apple has enough cash to survive 2-3 years with low sales. durig that time they can replace each application with a better one that does the job. and since there is then no competition they will make money from it.

if office goes they still sell all the consumer and graphics/video/photo pro macs.
if adobe goes the video and consumer customers stay.

it will hurt but after a year they can make up for it.

and it would be insane for adobe to not sell stuff to apple users. they make money either way.

so apple is here to stay unless the meteorite/nuke/caterpillar events happen.

[SeRgIo_42]

I think it is not so wrong to think that an earlier retirement of S.Jobs would do it.

Remember that Apple is around for decades but its recent rebirth is mostly due Jobs' return to the company.

Considering his last interviews (and that inspirational speech) his retirement would make deep waves at Apple.

Actually, I bought my first mac this year and my ONLY thought was :
"what if this guy decides to leave Apple ?"

That was my only fear about switching to Apple. What other company has such (almost religious) dependence on its CEO image than Apple ?

S.

[jaw04005]

What is keeping Office on OSX? Maybe I'm a little uneducated with M$'s history but why make their arguably most popular software for their rival company?

i suppose Steve would stick his fingers up too, bye bye PC iPod support?

The MacBU is one of Microsoft's most profitable divisions. They state that regularly, and Mac Office is one of Microsoft's top selling products. Unless something unforeseen happens, Microsoft will continue to develop for the Macintosh platform for years to come. Not to mention, it helps them avoid anti-trust lawsuits. :)

[illegalprelude]

I think it is not so wrong to think that an earlier retirement of S.Jobs would do it.

Remember that Apple is around for decades but its recent rebirth is mostly due Jobs' return to the company.

Considering his last interviews (and that inspirational speech) his retirement would make deep waves at Apple.

Actually, I bought my first mac this year and my ONLY thought was :
"what if this guy decides to leave Apple ?"

That was my only fear about switching to Apple. What other company has such (almost religious) dependence on its CEO image than Apple ?

S.

I would agree. he is one of the few company figures who is actually on the front line.

[solvs]

DaringFireball had a good story on why the iPod is nothing like the original Mac. Mainly because the Mac never had a majority, and because the iPod is for entertainment, not business. As for Adobe or Quark, remember the backlash against them when they try to start trouble. People use them because they have to. They use Macs because they want to, to get the job done. If Apple released a PS killer, people would jump at it. Are Adobe's customers that loyal? Not the ones I know.

They would have to make a lot of mistakes and have a lot of bad things happen before they would die. If they survived the 80's and 90's, they'll survive a lot longer now.

[iMeowbot]

Microsoft has at least two reasons to develop Office for Macs. One, it keeps the Justice Dept of their backs. Two, they make money.
Three, Apple do them lots of favors. The companies share quite a bit of technology.

[SeRgIo_42]

I would agree. he is one of the few company figures who is actually on the front line.

Coincidence or not, I just came across this article

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051015_373468.htm

[zap2]

And without "Microsoft Office" how will we open the office files that 90% (random figure) of the world creates

well pages can open a MS word doc( i think) so thats not a problem but to have a doc open in MS you should use Neooffice or OpenOffice to type it

[zap2]

What is keeping Office on OSX? Maybe I'm a little uneducated with M$'s history but why make their arguably most popular software for their rival company?

i suppose Steve would stick his fingers up too, bye bye PC iPod support?


apple and MS dont hate each other its the people who use there OS that do!

[obeygiant]

http://jedbrown.net/1.0/images/bullet-apple-s._smalljpg.jpg

[XNine]

I think it is not so wrong to think that an earlier retirement of S.Jobs would do it.

Remember that Apple is around for decades but its recent rebirth is mostly due Jobs' return to the company.

Considering his last interviews (and that inspirational speech) his retirement would make deep waves at Apple.

Actually, I bought my first mac this year and my ONLY thought was :
"what if this guy decides to leave Apple ?"

That was my only fear about switching to Apple. What other company has such (almost religious) dependence on its CEO image than Apple ?

S.

Exactly, another tyraid of dumbass CEO's and VP's who know nothing about computers and their users, just like Apple circa 1990's!!!!!!!!

[jhu]

i wouldn't exactly say destroy. perhaps a better term is "less relevant." the answer to that is "time." just look at practically the business landscape within the past century, and you'll see the remains of many companies that were dominant during their time. retailers such as woolworth are now nowhere to be found. sears had the chutzpah to build the tallest building the world in the 1970s. now they're struggling in the facing the likes of target and wal-mart. sperry and burroughs merged to become unisys in the 1980s. they were the second largest computer company at the time. now they appear to be mostly irrelevant.

the better companies, such as ibm or sony, are able to change with the times and adequately leverage social and technological trends. so a beter question is whether apple is an ibm or a unisys?

[zap2]

Steve Jobs has a plan when he leaves, i think he has someone hes training but im not sure

Apple is a long lasting company! They have a strong fan base and new fans from the iPod some who like Apple becuz they made the iPod and its cool! and some who are here to stay(liek me no more windows)


If apple was to die i woudl 1 cry(i know LOSER) and 2 go out and buy a Mac Mini and put it in my closet and use when my iMac dies or try and buy a 2.7ghz PM!

[TheMonarch]

What would kill Apple? Pfft, easy... If SJ had a heart attack and he died, then Apple started having a power struggle and they scrap Job's plan for the company, and they pick some really stupid CEO. Then the CEO licenses OS X to the rest of the world... Oh, and Pixar, gets buyed out to DreamWorks... *shudders*


I know, I know... Dramatic... I should write a soap :p

[illegalprelude]

Coincidence or not, I just came across this article

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051015_373468.htm

very interesting read. For alot of the loyal apple fans, Steve Jobs is apple. Im a huge Sony fan and its the only product I buy in electronics outside of apple but I dont care who leads the PSP, PS2, Wega or Vaio devision as long as they continue to improve them im happy but part of the apple experience to me is watching Jobs and how he presents the company.

Say what you want but the man is good at BS. He makes Photobooth seem like the next rave and calling Shuffle a revolution (hasent random been around forever?) so the man is damn good at his Job. No put intended Steve Jobs.

[DarkNetworks]

Say what you want but the man is good at BS

this is soooo freaking true...

[Chaszmyr]

All this talk about Adobe being able to kill Apple, I don't buy it. Apple might not want to have to make its own replacements for Adobe's products, but if they felt like the company was in danger they could easily pour a billion dollars into development and have a full line of products to compete head on with Adobe in a year. (Remember, Apple still retains the staff behind Final Cut Pro and Shake.. The guys know how to program)

[Chaszmyr]

What would kill Apple? Pfft, easy... If SJ had a heart attack and he died, then Apple started having a power struggle and they scrap Job's plan for the company, and they pick some really stupid CEO.

They wouldn't chose some stupid CEO, they would bring back John Sculley, duh :p