Jobs on Intel, Apple Stores, iPods

[MM2270]

Agreed. The only way to do it is to do both the back end end the front end of the device and its software. There is where Microsoft has failed. Its OEM's pretty much make crap. I'm pretty sure if Microsoft makes the whole kit it could become a fair competitor to the iPod.

Ya know, I agree. Something thats been becoming more and more clear to me, which I find very interesting, is that, Microsoft (as we already know) is a lousy software maker, but is a fairly decent hardware maker. Think about it- most of MS' hardware products aren't half bad, including their keyboards and mice, the Xbox and some other stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to come out with a worthy iPod competitor.
It's interesting really. I kind of see a reversal of roles happening here, ever so slowly. Apple is becoming more and more software oriented, and MS is becoming more hardware centric. That wasn't the case years ago, but each company is shifting it's focus.

Man, who knows. Maybe years down the line, Apple won't really make hardware anymore, but will make the OS and software, MS Windows will no longer be the dominant OS, but they will make some killer hardware.
I know, I know. Sounds absolutely crazy, and I wouldn't want Apple's sense of design style for the hardware to be lost, but that scenario is not entirely impossible.

 

[Epicurus]

But good to see the intel ad - follow that up with an iMac ad, and follow that up with an OSX/iLife ad.

Here are the intel chips, here's what machine they're in, and here's all the great Apple software that comes installed on your new machine...

Iain

Maybe they're waiting to kick start the Mac advertising blitz to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Apple Computer. If history is any indicator, Apple will roll out some sort of "special edition" product that will draw attention to the brand as well as the "regular" products. CNBC will probably to a few stories about the company and Jobs will be able to push the new products. There's nothing quite like free advertising...

 

[p0intblank]

The 5% market share is a nice number. Does it generally increase 1% each year ever since the iPod + iTunes integration became popular?

As for the Apple retail stores, I really hope we get at least one closer to where I live. Come on, Apple! I am dying to have a local Apple store.

 

[Project]

That comment about the battery life and being dual core. Does that mean a single core Yonah iBook would have crazy battery life??

 

[shawnce]

Does it generally increase 1% each year ever since the iPod + iTunes integration became popular?

2005 (hint of it in 2004) was the first year in several years (if not decades) that growth in Mac unit volumes out grew the growth of the market. No doubt that the iPod brand recognition mixed with foot traffic at the retail stores has had a hand in this.

 

[shawnce]

That comment about the battery life and being dual core. Does that mean a single core Yonah iBook would have crazy battery life??

Yes and no... likely the battery will be smaller in a iBook while the component swill generally use less power (lower end components). At this point who knows.

 

[fatbarstard]

A better performance...

The thing about market share is that a couple of years ago Apple was at 3%, so amove up to 5% is an increase of two thirds, which in anyones language is an impressive move.

Also by coming of such a low base Apple should be able to sustain that sort of growth in mkt share for a while yet.

What interested me the most was the short speech by Roz Ho from M$FT... always giving with one hand and taking away with the other

What Apple's next trick should be is to be able to claim that everything a windows user is going to get in Vista (stupid name) is available TODAY in OS X plus a while lot more....

That would be interesting.....

 

[edwardlanti]

The 5% market share is a nice number. Does it generally increase 1% each year ever since the iPod + iTunes integration became popular?

As for the Apple retail stores, I really hope we get at least one closer to where I live. Come on, Apple! I am dying to have a local Apple store.

What part of jersey are you from? Cause they are about to open a store at the Garden State Plaza. I dont know if you live around there

 

[supergod]

Why is Macrumors so freaking slow at getting news on the front page? This is from almost a week ago.

 

[runninmac]

Why is Macrumors so freaking slow at getting news on the front page? This is from almost a week ago.

How about you try running a great website like this. And try having a life on top of this. I think there doing a great job

 

[paulman]

I'm not sure.

Jim Clark?

Jim Clark is as cool as Steve Jobs. Although Clark would probably make something completely impractical and bankrupt Microsoft...

 

[macidiot]

I heard a couple years ago that 1% of market share is equivalent to about $1 billion in gross revenue. Of course, as volume goes up, net profit increases as well, as R&D and marketing (both of which are high in Apple's case) becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of expenditures.

Yes. 1% is about 1 billion in gross revenue. Oddly though, I've heard that 2% would be about 1.88 billion. At least in Apple's case. Which seems counter-intuitive. One would think that economies of scale would start to kick in. I suppose that might be reflected in profits.

Actually, though Apple spends a lot marketing the iPod, it spends almost nothing marketing the Mac. Though I did finally see a Mac ad over the weekend during the Carolina/Chicago playoff game.

I predicted Apple would pass Dell in market cap this year. I just didn't think it would happen so fast.

Now for some other predictions. Apple stock will go to 110. Apple will add another 2% marketshare in computers this year.

 

[brepublican]

Steve's right, MS should heed his advice. I bet they have something in the works. Or knowing them, maybe not. It would be interesting though to see them come up with an mp3 player...

 

[macidiot]

Ya know, I agree. Something thats been becoming more and more clear to me, which I find very interesting, is that, Microsoft (as we already know) is a lousy software maker, but is a fairly decent hardware maker. Think about it- most of MS' hardware products aren't half bad, including their keyboards and mice, the Xbox and some other stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to come out with a worthy iPod competitor.
It's interesting really. I kind of see a reversal of roles happening here, ever so slowly. Apple is becoming more and more software oriented, and MS is becoming more hardware centric. That wasn't the case years ago, but each company is shifting it's focus.

Man, who knows. Maybe years down the line, Apple won't really make hardware anymore, but will make the OS and software, MS Windows will no longer be the dominant OS, but they will make some killer hardware.
I know, I know. Sounds absolutely crazy, and I wouldn't want Apple's sense of design style for the hardware to be lost, but that scenario is not entirely impossible.

Microsoft keyboards and mice are pretty good. But their other stuff is questionable. Remember the microsoft phone? Or their routers? And the xbox... the first one was fugly. And the 360 is a mess. Incredibly bad engineering...

Microsoft's strategy in DAP devices will be the same as with pda's, just keep plugging away until the competition wears down and/or runs out of money. And if that doesn't work, there's always intellectual property theft.

 

[Yebot]

If you could put anyone, who doesn't work at Apple, in the lead position of Microsoft who would it be?

That's easy.

Skeletor.

 

[maya]

Curious, when Apple states that they have X amount of units out the door, does that mean units out of the factor and in the Apple Store, plus 3rd party vendors, plus customers or does it mean only customer purchases.

If they are also count units out of the factory then the numbers are off.

So we now have a 5% user base using the Macintosh platform running OS 8-10.4.4.

Microsoft is only interested in licensing they software (OS, Apps, etc..) to manufacturers, since they know they are not very good at making stable hardware. Look at the XBOX 360, the XBOX had issues, however I will let it pass as it was they first step into the gaming arena. Can you imagine the battery life, the reboots, etc... if they did release a mobile audio player.

 

[macorama]

The 5% market share is a nice number. Does it generally increase 1% each year ever since the iPod + iTunes integration became popular?

1% increase per year doesn't get you very far very fast. But if you can go from 4% to 5% in a year, you've added 25% to your market share. You don't have to keep that up for long to get to 50%. It'll be interesting to see how it goes from here.

 

[Fiveos22]

- On the lack of iPod killer products at CES: "What's going to happen is that Microsoft is going to have to get into the hardware business of marking MP3 players."

What does marking MP3 players mean? Or does Microsoft plan on making MP3 players?

 

[iris_failsafe]

I am guessing that Gates and Ballmer's are saying after reading the interview (how come we didn't think of that!!!) Anyway I sure we will see how mediocre Microsoft design actually is when they release their x-player. Also I will bet they will run out of that business Creative, SONY and all the other companies that support their windows media my making their player and windows incompatible with third party products.

 

[ZorPrime]

You just can't win with premature specifications... just like premature ej... well you know.

Premature Inebriation?

 

[nagromme]

I personally am happy that I soon will HAVE a dvd burner. All I have right now is a 4x CD-R drive on my Dell Latitude 500Mhz system. So I just want to know what was the key reason behind it. That's all.

From what has been said I would assume the following:

* Apple designed the MacBook from the start expecting to use an ultraslim slot-load drive. People like thinner laptops, and ultraslim drives are the future.

* But when the time came to finalize the shipping product, DL ultraslim drives were not out yet. So they went with single-layer because there was no other choice.

* And going back to re-engineer a thicker case isn't as quick and simple as it sounds. Possibly including changing the circuit board that's underneath the drive. Not worth delaying Core Duo over, and of no value at all (just wasted space) once DL drives emerge.

* DL ultraslim drives will become available to Apple at some point regardless. Maybe sooner than Apple could have re-enginnered the MacBook for thicker drives.

That comment about the battery life and being dual core. Does that mean a single core Yonah iBook would have crazy battery life??

I'll be a pessimist: I don't think so: IIRC, Yonah has the ability to shut down one core during battery use anyway--and no laptop maker would fail to take advantage of that in stating their numbers. It sounds liek Steve Jobs is NOT taking advantage of that in his statements, but he could just mean "you have two-core speed sometimes, and great battery life at other times." So I think that on battery, a MacBook Pro would ALREADY be much like a Core Solo iBook/MacBook. (Unless you opt not to shut down a core--but then your battery life would be less.)

 

[McScooby]

Curious, when Apple states that they have X amount of So we now have a 5% user base using the Macintosh platform running OS 8-10.4.4.

5% user base only relates to new shipments of macs vs. pc's - the installed base is different.

 

[iMeowbot]

If they are also count units out of the factory then the numbers are off.

When Apple give out numbers on those rare occasions, they seem to be in line with what is reported by IDC. That's not surprising, given the companies' cozy relationship. IDC do seem to be pretty good about comparing sales against what users have on their desks to keep the numbers from being too fudged.

So we now have a 5% user base using the Macintosh platform running OS 8-10.4.4.

Installed base has stuck around 5% for years. It's a much less volatile number than market share, tending to smooth out the quarterly and annual dips and peaks.

 

[Doctor Q]

Jobs does not feel that PowerMac sales will suffer greatly during the transition

What was his other choice about what to say? To recommend that people not buy them until further notice?

I respectfully disagree, Steve. I wouldn't buy a Power Mac in the next few months if I could delay it. If I had a deadline for needing it, like the start of a project that required it or the end of a budget cycle that would pay for it, I might not have a choice. But given a choice, I'd try to avoid buying the last of a breed being phased out.

And I'd read rumor sites to see if I could learn when new Power Macs were likely to be announced.

 

[Dm84]

What was his other choice about what to say? To recommend that people not buy them until further notice?

I respectfully disagree, Steve. I wouldn't buy a Power Mac in the next few months if I could delay it. If I had a deadline for needing it, like the start of a project that required it or the end of a budget cycle that would pay for it, I might not have a choice. But given a choice, I'd try to avoid buying the last of a breed being phased out.

And I'd read rumor sites to see if I could learn when new Power Macs were likely to be announced.

People who need a Power Mac now and who use a lot of Adobe software would probably be better off buying a PPC Power Mac, since Adobe could take well over a year to deliver a universal binary.