From: Martin Joseph (martyNT_at_barknaturalpet.com)
Date: Wed Jun 15 2005 - 16:26:50 PDT
On Jun 15, 2005, at 4:17 PM, Kevin Hagen wrote:
> If Apple sells OS X to any PC owner, then why buy an Apple MacTel?
> Just buy a cheapo Dell box, add $129 for OS X, and it will still be
> cheaper than a MacTel, unless Apple cuts hardware design costs and uses
> cheaper components. They are already made in China, so I doubt labor
> can be cut much more.
There will still be advantages to owning Apple hardware, like better
design, support and reliability. These are very real. Look at
consumer reports.
Many Apple customers will continue to appreciate the Apple product look
and feel.
>
> If this happens, MacTel or whatever Apple will call it, will be even
> more of a niche player, and that will cut into the bottom line hard.
Maybe, but not if enough PC's adopt OSX, then they actually become a
much larger player.
>
> Apple has been one of the few truly profitable computer companies while
> serving a niche market with niche hardware.
There profitability has been inconsistent unless you haven't been
keeping score. They have done better of late.
> I think Apple simply
> doesn't want to spend any of its profits funding an alternative
> platform.
That is completely wrong. They are still totally committed to an
"alternative" platform. You are over rating the uniqueness of mac
hardware. It has been made of standard stuff for a long long time.
I expect that apple will continue to add some custom and semicustom
parts to intel based Mac's/
> Previously they did. Now they don't.
See Above.
> I think that's sad,
> because Apple is the only company that can. Soon there will be less
> choice when buying a computer. All there will be to choose from is
> different flavors of x86 systems.
True, this is sad I agree. Although there are still PPC boxen availble
(pegasus). These are far from a volume item. Look for Yellow dog to
get closer to one of the PPC box builders...
> Consolidation may be better for
> business, but it takes some of the excitement away from watching
> computer hardware development, and I'm not so sure it will be better
> for consumers.
True, I can't disagree with that.
Progress?
Marty
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