Absolute last ditch for apple

[strider42]

I was thinking about a story on maccentral about analysts and what they think abuot the mac's future,a nd things like the maklar project, and I was running this hypothetical through my mind: what if apple got to a point where the mac platform simply became unviable for developers to bother making anything for. I mean totally. What would apple do.

Would they keep fighting the good fight until they were bankrupt?

Would they branch out into other arenas and abandon the PC market?

Or perhaps would they consider making wintel based PC's (running windows, not mac OS) using their industrial design strengths as a way to keep a higher profit margin than other PC companies.

This last one has always intrigued me, and I've often though that they could do a lot by doing this, perhaps through a wholly owned subsidiary company. If it could be done in a way that wouldn't eat into current mac sales, I'm not so sure it wouldn't be a good idea right now, regardless of the health of the company.

remember, I'm talking hypotheticals here. I'm proposing a situation where the mac platform was about to die with no hopes of getting back up. What would apple do?

 

[Sun Baked]

Here we go again... same topic, new thread

Though Apple branching out into the PC business as a supplier of Windows PC might not work, don't know what type of extortion MS would use in their attempt to collect Windows tax on the all the Macs that Apple makes.

About the only way Apple may get around it is buy a PC company already in existance, but they'd also be buying the debt and reputation of the company - and building a new company from scratch as a seperate entity from Apple would be expensive. However, investing in a new/existing companies stock and sitting on the board might be the most Apple could hope for.

 

[strider42]

Originally posted by Sun Baked
Here we go again... same topic, new thread

are there other threads going on about this. I've been hanging around macrumors for a while and never seen this topic specifically, though I don't check every day, so i might have missed a thread or two. If there are, sorry for starting another one.

Note that I am not asking whether apple should go to intel based CPU's right now. I'm not interested in that debate (whcih is asanine to me)

 

[TheCharlie]

I like to hope that Apple won't go under, but it's always a possibility. They've done some stupid stuff in their day. I feel like they would never embrace the Windows market because the only thing that makes them special anymore is the OS. Nobody really cares that a computer _looks_ cooler than another one, and besides, some of the PC companies have pretty cool looking computers too.

IF Apple disappeared, I think the software community wouldn't stop developing for the Mac right away, but they would be forced to stop eventually because the last Macs would become obsolete within a couple years of Apple's demise.

On a separate note, are you the same strider42 from Treefrog?

 

[Sun Baked]

Lot's of similar, is the Mac/PPC dead end threads or what consumer product should Apple make...

Very easy for this thread to get into the above argument rut that was in countless other threads.

---

No biggie, but whether Apple can get into the PC business building Windows machines is an argument that if activated would spook current investors and users.

Apple even seen building these machines might make people and developers switch to PCs because they would see Apple as having lost all faith in the viability of the Mac OS. A self perpetuating death spiral.

About the only thing Apple can do is invest in the Software and Hardware suppliers, developers, and/or manufacturing facilities. Something they are currently doing.

 

[benixau]

Originally posted by TheCharlie
Nobody really cares that a computer _looks_ cooler than another one

Your half right. Apple attracts customers to its computers with the looks of the new iMac and OSX running on it. Then when they are totally sucked in and want one bad, they tell them the price. They um and ahhh over it but eventually buy a mac, some software and a few other tid bits to go with it. It may not be an iMac that they purchase, but it is a mac and one more customer. Size only matters when your small, and apple is, therefore one customer is a big gain, well a resonable gain anyway.

 

[Inhale420]

apple should only make ipods and cool pc cases for windows pc's.

 

[Tiauguinho]

Originally posted by Inhale420
apple should only make ipods and cool pc cases for windows pc's.

Errrr...Apple already makes iPods for the windows market and that was a smart move, because that way they give a "scent" to PC users of the "feel" of a Mac and the pleasure of owning something beautifull and very well built... But, let me just ask you one thing... You are a PC troll aren't you?

 

[Nipsy]

Apple is in the best place they've been in over a decade.

Notice the press is now saying, "This is really cool, we just wish it cost less", rather than "Apple will be gone by Q2 next year". Notice how complaints are "Datacenters are being slow to warm to the Xserve", rather than "We're seeing less and less Macs out there".

I'll put forth my offer again, if you have no broad understanding of where Apple sits right now, and you're old enoug to own stock, I'll buy your AAPL stock for $13 a share all day long.

 

[Backtothemac]

Originally posted by Inhale420
apple should only make ipods and cool pc cases for windows pc's.

Now, that is Genius.

 

[benixau]

Originally posted by Inhale420
apple should only make ipods and cool pc cases for windows pc's.

iPods OR cases. just enough to tempt them to come over. I prefer iPods becuase to get full functionality you need a mac. A case will let people pretend they own something good and give macs a bad name. Macs are macs and people know it because they look like they do, not cuase they run OSX. At least that is what my mum thinks. She is an average user, we need them. They make up 80% of the 5% that we are.

 

[D*I*S_Frontman]

This is another "when are you going to stop beating your wife" type of threads.

Apple is MAKING MONEY . They have had one of the longest stretches of profitablilty in their history, and financially the company is still in great shape, despite the dog-slow G4 issues with Motorola and slower bus speeds compared to the windows world.

Apple refuses to play the "computer as commodity" game that all the other manufacturers are involved in. They don't whore out their machines to stay in the bloodletting price war all the PC companies are stuck fighting. By working a bit harder on a better overall user experience with their OS and making sure that same OS will NEVER run on competitor's machines (and stop noising about what they've done in the lab--they'll torch those "Maklar" files in an arson fire before they'll EVER release it to the public. It's just an insurance policy in case all else fails). Great OS + well designed (if slow) hardware + cool iApps + prefectly controlled hardware/software integration + style = PROFIT. Economists call this "value-added," meaning more than just raw materials. Apple knows this.

BTW, Apple could really care less what their market share is if they are PROFITABLE. A fanatical 3-5% of users who will never leave your platform and drop $2-3K every five years to buy your stuff will keep you afloat a lot longer than crapping out cheap systems at 1% profit margins to stay even with the dozen or so other major PC makers. You have to make, sell, and service 20X more units to make the same net profit and advertise constantly to keep up with your competition, and your customer will desert you fast as lightning if you dare ask for more. Apple doesn't play this game.

If Apple was gonna die, the years prior to Steve's return would have been the time. Now that he runs the show Apple will rake it in until he dies or leaves. By then he will have created some firmly grounded disciples who can carry on in his tradition.

Soon the CPU disparity will be addressed by either IBM's new technology or Motorola's fabled G5, or both. Apple systems will perform near the top again. But they may never be "the fastest" system, and that's OK by them. Great performance coupled with stability/ease of use/style beats top performance any day. By "staying different" from the rest, they ensure their future. They make their own rules instead of following the other lemmings. And they are whistling all the way to the bank as everyone is shouting "Apples are slow--they are gonna go under!"

MONEY means R&D means better future outlook. Far from going under, Apple is sowing a lot of great seed for its future. You have to look a little beyond today's G4s to see what is really going on here. And yes, I find the current systems lacking--so, like every other reasonably intelligent Mac user, I will wait to buy until they get the next generation up and running. Apple's future looks blindingly bright to me, even though a lot of users complain about us vs them comparisons right now. The BIG PICTURE evidence is very favorable.

 

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by TheCharlie
Nobody really cares that a computer _looks_ cooler than another one

That's definitely not true. A lot of finer contemporary households have macs because they blend in with the decor. Metropolitan Home, my favorite decorating magazine, just listed the TiBook as an actual product people would be interested in, not just in the background of one of their pictures (as they've been doing for years). I work next to a small company that has an indigo iMac on their secretary's desk because it obviously goes well with the high-style image they promote.

There are a lot of people with huge disposabile incomes that don't give a rip about the macs VS pc arguement, they just want something that will look really cool.

I remember seeing a picture of a cube and flat-screen on Matthew Perry's desk at home that's accented by black and white photos right next to it...

For one reason or another, there's simply no way Apple is going to completely go under. The millions of hardcore Mac fans aren't simply going to wake up and go "DELL!" one day...


pnw

 

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by benixau


iPods OR cases. just enough to tempt them to come over. I prefer iPods becuase to get full functionality you need a mac. A case will let people pretend they own something good and give macs a bad name. Macs are macs and people know it because they look like they do, not cuase they run OSX. At least that is what my mum thinks. She is an average user, we need them. They make up 80% of the 5% that we are.

i think you guys are missing inhale420's point. he is saying Apple should stop making *everything* else except ipods and cases. he's a troll that considers himself rather brilliant while making a fool of himself, and at the same time making stoners look bad.


pnw

 

[Chaszmyr]

If Apple was going under someone would probably buy them out and continue use of OSX.

 

[Sun Baked]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
If Apple was going under someone would probably buy them out and continue use of OSX.

IBM would be a better choice than that old silly Disney rumor.

 

[Durandal7]

If Apple were going bankrupt they would release Marklar for $20 in a final gesture of defiance against Microsoft before going under.

 

[benixau]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
If Apple was going under someone would probably buy them out and continue use of OSX.

Yeah, Macros**t. Sad, but true. They would then take all of apples ideas, rename them with hopeless names and say that t hey invented them.

I wish it werent true but M$ has the money to do it.

IBM would be a better choice than that old silly Disney rumor.

Duh, disney would turn OSX into a mickey mouse theme. How could mac users say that their system is serious with an OS like that????