considering Apple shipped 1.6 million Mac computers last quarter, the probability of the company ending the production of computers is virtually zero. Why eliminate 40% of your revenue stream?
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Are we on the last generation of Macs?
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Given the high margins on Mac sales, I really doubt that Apple would give up these profitable items.
With that being said, if I had paid money to see the keynote at MacWorld, I would have been ticked that Steve spent two hours talking about 2 products, neither of which are Mac's.
With that being said, if I had paid money to see the keynote at MacWorld, I would have been ticked that Steve spent two hours talking about 2 products, neither of which are Mac's.
I doubt it.
If Apple starts selling OS X for PCs it will be the end of Apple as we know it.
1) People don't "suddenly" just walk into a store and buy OS X, and then spend the next 3 months wondering why all his old software doesn't work. That's not what Joe Sixpacks do.
2) The people who care enough to run OS X will stop buying Macs and just buy the OS.
3) The current "Hackintosh" crowd will just download it off [website name removed]They didn't pay for it in the past, why suddenly stop now?
I think everyone here is seemingly forgetting that apple did to that once. It was called os 7 8 and 9 or as I like to refer to it... "the dark ages". The system worked, and wasn't quite as bad as some of the versions of windows during that time, but it was no where as special and nice and convenient as it has been since.
The mid 90's, the age of apples downward spiral without Steve. They went from being the most popular computers in schools and ... well everywhere else (you know.. back in the days when it was more likely to see dos running on a pc then windows... before the main chunk of copying from microsoft started) to nothing. Being a ugly blip on the computer world that people scoffed at. I know... I had a bootleg powerpc running os8 and that was a sad sad sad time for me and the rest of the apple/mac world.
As long as Steve and his band of cohorts are still with the company there is no way they will leave integrated OS and computer sales behind, Jobs is just too proud and commited to the apple name and computers and systems that "just work" to do that.
Atleast I would hope....
Apple use the Merom(Mobile version of Core 2 Duo) in iMacs and Macbook(& Pro), and the Woodcrest(Server/"Professional" version of Core 2 duo) in the Mac Pro. Conroe is just a version with a slower FSB(1066 vs 1333) compared to the Woodcrest. So, it's not like we're missing out on anything. Conroe just doesn't fit right in any product. It's more aimed at gaiming etc, and as we all know thats not one of Apple areas.
I'm pretty sure we'll see Quad-Core(Kentsfield) Xeons in the Mac Pros & Xserves soon though.
Actually, Conroe is a good 5-20% faster than Woodcrest, clock-per-clock, on memory-intensive tasks like rendering. That's thanks to Woodcrest's poor memory latency. The only good points about the Woodcrest architecture are its ability to expand to 16GB physical RAM, and ability to support 8 cores (for those few apps that can benefit from 8 cores).
Do I see it happening at some point in time. Yes. I think at some point apple is going to have to do it because of supply issues on the computer hardware.
Do I see it happening anytime soon. No I do not. I say at best it is 5 years away and more than likely more but at the same time apple could easily drop that bomb shell in the next year or 2. Apple does have a history of doing things that are completely unexpected. For example the Intel switch was a pretty big bombshell when the rumor really hit.
So could I see apple release OSX to all PC in the next year yes I honestly could easily seem them doing it. I just do not think it is very likely but the unexpected seems to be something apple is very good at.
Do I see it happening anytime soon. No I do not. I say at best it is 5 years away and more than likely more but at the same time apple could easily drop that bomb shell in the next year or 2. Apple does have a history of doing things that are completely unexpected. For example the Intel switch was a pretty big bombshell when the rumor really hit.
So could I see apple release OSX to all PC in the next year yes I honestly could easily seem them doing it. I just do not think it is very likely but the unexpected seems to be something apple is very good at.
I'm sorry, have you missed the "I'm a Mac..." ads that are on TV every 5 seconds for the last year?
I've never seen Apple push the Mac so vigorously; even the "Switch" campaign wasn't as big.
I've never seen Apple push the Mac so vigorously; even the "Switch" campaign wasn't as big.
I can picture Steve at the next Apple event saying something like "I don't know why everyone's saying that we are moving away from the personal computer business, because we are definitely not and we have great Macs coming in the future
Apple won't stop making Macs. They account for half of Apple's revenue
Apple won't stop making Macs. They account for half of Apple's revenue