#2 - Do you see the direction Apple is taking as a good thing for Apple and for your business personally? Why?
Steve Giunto - Bark at the Moon Graphics Studio - Yes for Apple, No for Me.
Moving over to intel chips (although I’m sure, for better hardware reasons), will no doubt get more people interested in owning a MAC. Increasing Apple’s market share is great for Apple, but doesn’t help me or our business, as long as Apple is solid enough to stick around versus the Microsoft conglomerate, which they’ve been doing since the 80’s.
I think most MAC users will agree we’re happy with our handful of apps, and comfy little corner of the world. I may be a little naive here, but I believe most MAC users are of the sophisticated type, and are not interested in using the MAC to push the “IT” boundaries or exploit loop holes. We’re happy with our initially-daunting, over-priced machines that only run the dozen programs we need each day. If the learning curve and a high price tag, help keep MACs out of the hands of bored teenagers who would love nothing else but to splatter their name on a million computer screens, then I’m all for it.
I must believe the intel move was purely a performance increasing decision. I hope Apple’s pursuit of market share, doesn’t hurt the loyal MAC user’s out here.
Eric Smith - Mind Architecture - In my opinion, Apple’s success has been more about smart branding and good design/packaging over superior hardware. I don’t want to start a holy war about the speed or utility of Apple machines vs. PC machines, but I think it’s safe to say whatever success Apple has had in the desktop market hasn’t been from vastly superior hardware.
It’s smart for Apple to focus on their strengths and on the iPod brand. I’d take millions of 99 cent downloads a month over iTunes with those margins over trying to move desktop or laptop systems any day.
As for the viability of their computers, they’ve always been held back by the dearth of software titles available for the Mac and the switch to Intel-based hardware could help. The ability to dual-boot Windows opens up their market substantially, but I don’t think the average user has any compelling reason to buy an Apple over a PC.
Whatever markets they enter, Apple should stick to their strengths - branding, marketing, and cool designs because that’s what sells consumer electronics.
John Dowling - iSite Design - Yes, I think apple is going in a good direction. I think it will help boost apple sales when pc/windows users can use windows software on a mac. I like it because I have to check everything I do against a mac and a pc browser and I can do in on one machine now.
Stephen Schneider - Mind Architecture - It’s interesting. Apple has always wanted the control of the hardware. That makes for a stable platform, but less choice. One of the things I like about the PC is being able to walk into any computer electronics store and knowing almost anything I see I can get. It’s now like the 50’s muscle cars were. With Apple you can’t do that, but you do get the stability. Moving to the Intel chips doesn’t strike me as real bad or different for them, but more so than before. I mean, they’ve changed chips before it was just more of an evolutionary upgrade rather than an about face. Personally, I would consider getting a Mac now. Like has been said above, if I had a Mac, I could run all the Windows software I like and need plus run any good Mac software. Plus, with VMWare or Virtual PC I can install a Linux OS. I would then have this all available on 1 machine. For a developer that needs to check multiple browsers against web applications, this is perfect.
I also have an iPod. I am not actually ga-ga over it, like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. I got it because at the time it was the only one that had the storage space, ability to add a mic to record, and it also allowed photos. But since then, I’m not totally impressed as it being better than other players. In the last year my iPod has locked up and crashed more than my Windows PC.
I’m also not convined about downloadable movies. For $15 I can spend a couple hours downloading a less than DVD quality movie that I can watch on my computer or maybe another device and then it might time out after awhile and I can’t ever watch again.. Or I can go to the store and buy the same movie for $15 and watch it on anything with a DVD player and keep it forever. Or resell it to a used store for a couple bucks. This isn’t just Apple, I don’t like any of the download movie stores at the moment.