Apple Office?

[Shrek]

Okay, something crossed my mind just now that made me think of something Apple might be up to. But before I tell you, take a look at this snipit from a CNet article:

Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg said the release of Keynote and Apple's Web browser show that the company is "serious at not relying on Microsoft to deliver key applications to the Mac OS platform." But these products also put the Mac in a precarious position, he said, particularly if Microsoft sees these new products as a reason to slow down how quickly it releases the latest versions of Internet Explorer or Office for the Mac.

"If Apple's products fail to deliver in terms of compatibility, Apple may well have put itself at risk of losing valuable platform support from Microsoft and not being able to supplant that loss with homegrown applications," Gartenberg said. "Nevertheless, this is a risky move that Apple needs to take."

A risky move, eh? The release of Keynote is a risky move for Apple, and those who take risks win!

Apple already has Appleworks, a consumer-level office suite that comes with OS X. But big deal. So does Microsoft, with Microsoft Works. What Apple doesn't have is a professional-level office suite like Microsoft Office or Sun StarOffice. And Microsoft, well, the 5-year contract between Apple and them has already expired, leaving Apple in the dust if M$ doesn't keep it promises to keep make Microsoft software for the Mac. With the release of Keynote, Apple is taking the right risk and becoming more and more independent.

So what better way for Apple to stop depending on M$ and keep up it's momentum by producing and selling it's own professional office suite! Keynote, an obvious piece of presentation software, which can import and export PowerPoint presentations appears to be the first app in a future major release for Apple. I believe we will see more Apple-branded office apps like this in the the coming months and later this year, and full-featured office suite from Apple by MWSF 2004!

What do you all think about that?

 

[Shrek]

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