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Will apple continue making computers?
- Thread starter cool11
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Wrong! I heard from a reliable source that they are actually going to concentrate on making chips for the SONY PSP. Not the silicon chips that power the thing, actual freedom fries for the workers who assemble it
I can't imagine them stopping now if the god-awful Performa era didn't make them quite (or alter the OS to work with other hardware)...
Seriously. There are enough of us out here willing to pay them for the machines they make, since they are 99% of the time of the best quality in the market.
I actually find this question comical and a little puzzling. Apple has developed at leadership presence in consumer electronics, but their computer hardware/software business is probably the best it has ever been. Successful diversification of services and/or products is the dream of every company. Few achieve it, or are able to maintain it. Apple is doing it with a very intelligent plan. I see nothing to suggest they would amputate a successful business limb. Why would you wonder about this?
Apple's sales may be in the iPod, but their genius is in the macs (hardware and software). Apple will continues to make macs and make them better, and better, and still alittle better.
WTF GUYZ???
chip butties r teh suxx0r - cornish pasties rool. they dont crash or get viruses and look way cooler. that is were APPLE INC. will go to!!!
FFS!!!!
Anyway. Apple won't outright stop making computer systems, but I don't think we will see any expansion of their systems line. Right now they have the following model lines -
Mac Pro
XServe
iMac
MacBook
MacBook Pro
Mini
Variation in spec doesn't count. The fact is that the number of systems has decreased - loss of eMac, for example. And even within the model lines we see reduction in offerings - 2 instead of 3 sizes of MacBook Pro, 1 instead of 2 sizes of MacBook.
I doubt there will be any new lines - no "MiniTower" or "headless iMac". I don't think we will even see increased variation within model lines, other than things like screen sizes.
This trend is reversed for non-computer items. See the increasing range and variation of iPod models available at any one time. Witness the expansion of this line since launch - adding colour screens, creating new input methods, designing new form factors, adding video playback, adding games, adding phone capabilities...
The iPhone, for example, is covered by TWO HUNDRED patents. How many do you think the next new computer system from Apple will involve? If such a machine is ever released. I expect maybe five for the design, one for the production process and however many OS X already has.
I don't think Apple will stop making computer systems, but I don't see them sticking too many fingers into that pie: indeed, they are really trying hard to spread their fingers into other, very different, pies.
chip butties r teh suxx0r - cornish pasties rool. they dont crash or get viruses and look way cooler. that is were APPLE INC. will go to!!!
FFS!!!!
Anyway. Apple won't outright stop making computer systems, but I don't think we will see any expansion of their systems line. Right now they have the following model lines -
Mac Pro
XServe
iMac
MacBook
MacBook Pro
Mini
Variation in spec doesn't count. The fact is that the number of systems has decreased - loss of eMac, for example. And even within the model lines we see reduction in offerings - 2 instead of 3 sizes of MacBook Pro, 1 instead of 2 sizes of MacBook.
I doubt there will be any new lines - no "MiniTower" or "headless iMac". I don't think we will even see increased variation within model lines, other than things like screen sizes.
This trend is reversed for non-computer items. See the increasing range and variation of iPod models available at any one time. Witness the expansion of this line since launch - adding colour screens, creating new input methods, designing new form factors, adding video playback, adding games, adding phone capabilities...
The iPhone, for example, is covered by TWO HUNDRED patents. How many do you think the next new computer system from Apple will involve? If such a machine is ever released. I expect maybe five for the design, one for the production process and however many OS X already has.
I don't think Apple will stop making computer systems, but I don't see them sticking too many fingers into that pie: indeed, they are really trying hard to spread their fingers into other, very different, pies.
"If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it's worth—and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago." - Steve Jobs, a few months before he returned to Apple.
[edit: in case that gets misread, this is a good thing for the Mac's longevity: you don't get much milk from a dead cow. ]
[edit: in case that gets misread, this is a good thing for the Mac's longevity: you don't get much milk from a dead cow. ]
Forgive me but after the new delay of leopard os I remembered this topic again.
They could always go into the "other" adult toy business, where Apple flavored and scented toys are always a welcome change from cherry.
They will stop making computers...but it won't be until humans evolve and develop the ability to incorporate bio-tech nano-circuits into our bodies and genetically transmit them to our offspring.
IMHO Apple has just STARTED making the absolute best computers money can buy....
Nothing disrespectful regarding the PPC / Mac OS 9 era (I own many, many, many PPC Macs ), but we are finally, really, seriously competing with the dark side on about all fronts regarding home and business computers (not quite there yet on the servers yet, ofcourse).
Now with the Intel switch an obvious success, and therefore logically on par with the Windows world regarding speed, the OS is really getting ahead.
With Leopard we have a *real* UNIX, 64 bits right up into the GUI, and a gr8 server platform.
The brand has never been so strong, we are gaining marketshare....
Eh... "let's stop making Macs"....
Steve: "nah... let's not."
Nothing disrespectful regarding the PPC / Mac OS 9 era (I own many, many, many PPC Macs
), but we are finally, really, seriously competing with the dark side on about all fronts regarding home and business computers (not quite there yet on the servers yet, ofcourse).Now with the Intel switch an obvious success, and therefore logically on par with the Windows world regarding speed, the OS is really getting ahead.
With Leopard we have a *real* UNIX, 64 bits right up into the GUI, and a gr8 server platform.
The brand has never been so strong, we are gaining marketshare....
Eh... "let's stop making Macs"....
Steve: "nah... let's not."
i only have ppc macs, and i love them. when i first heard apple was going intel, i was worried a/b them leaving the hardware game and moving to software/ipods....... obviously i was wrong. and i am glad that i was wrong. as it has been said on this thread already, apple is just opening the door to what computers can be and to what technology can do for everyday activities. from making spreadsheets, emailing photos, listening to music, and now watching tv.
we are at the infancy of a great journey. be thankful.
we are at the infancy of a great journey. be thankful.
Having had several, I no longer consider dHell a computer. I consider it a sentence.
Apple will continue to make hardware, but alas, they will sell OS X development to Microsoft. Macs will ship with Windows under the hood, and an OS X eye candy facade, just like John Dvorak said. I believe anything John Dvorak says. If John Dvorak told me to jump off a cliff, I would gladly do it.
Honestly, why would they spend so much money transitioning to Intel if they weren't planning on making computers in the future?
Honestly, why would they spend so much money transitioning to Intel if they weren't planning on making computers in the future?
Correct. Apple make their profit from the sale of their hardware (Computers.. and iPods, Airport, and the soon-to-be-released iPhone).
The fact that the computers you buy from Apple have a superior OS on them is your luck - Apple doesn't make money off it. Its the computers themselves that earn them the big bucks.
Apple will only stop making computers when they don't make money on them AND they stop making products/offering service which require computers.
Apple maintains healthy profit margins on their hardware, so it would stupid to stop.
secondly, they are creating products which work WITH computers. If they stop making computers, they will give up control on how these products work and how they interact with computers. Even if apple didn't make very much money on their systems, they would still need to make them to keep control of the peripheral products (itunes, iphone, apple tv, etc.)
it's all about money and control. See "The Departed" and you'll understand.
Apple maintains healthy profit margins on their hardware, so it would stupid to stop.
secondly, they are creating products which work WITH computers. If they stop making computers, they will give up control on how these products work and how they interact with computers. Even if apple didn't make very much money on their systems, they would still need to make them to keep control of the peripheral products (itunes, iphone, apple tv, etc.)
it's all about money and control. See "The Departed" and you'll understand.
I have my first new Apple Computer now. It is so very much more than any PC user could ever expect. I love it and it has immediately made me vow to never want to go back.
Jobs would be crazy to want to stop supplying the cleanest, prettiest, most advanced, safest, and most enjoyable computer experience yet!
Jobs would be crazy to want to stop supplying the cleanest, prettiest, most advanced, safest, and most enjoyable computer experience yet!