🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:22:20 -0700, in
<0Nk0o.6323$o27.6164@newsfe08.iad>, John Slade <hhitman86@pacbell.net>
wrote:

>On 7/16/2010 11:30 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:

>>  OS X is a "value add"- essentially a
>> software bundle to differentiate themselves from other brands.
>
>      I understand. Apple wants to use OS X to sell their 
>hardware. Their marketing is based on two tings, the novelty of 
>their computers and that OS X is better than "PC" software. 
>Apple says that OS X doesn't get "PC" viruses and doesn't suffer 
>from the problems of Windows. This is the reason OS X hasn't 
>been gaining much market share. There is no good reason to buy 
>OS X to most people so there is no good reason to buy a Mac. Now 
>I'm sure there is a small niche out there that wants to buy a 
>cutesy Mac and run Windows exclusively. But the main reason to 
>buy a Mac for the majority is to use OS X.
>
>      Steve Jobs said it best, Macs were about the OS when they 
>switched to making clones like Dell and HP do.

I think you two are essentially agreeing with each other.  ;)
Me too.

>> If Apple cared about OS market share as a measure of sucess, they'd
>> license OS X to other OEMs like Microsoft does.  But they don't.  They
>> want to sell $800 computers, not $20 OEM licenses.
>
>     They do care about market share. Apple would LOVE to have 
>20% market share. I think in the future Apple will allow OS X to 
>run on generic PCs rather than just the ones they churn out. It 
>seems their mobile devices are a greater and greater portion of 
>their profits each year.

I seriously doubt that -- it would cost Apple too much in terms of
hardware support for the modest revenue opportunity, as Sun learned the
hard way with Solaris.

>> Trying to compare Apple to Microsoft is like comparing Ford to Goodyear.
>> Sure, Ford sells a good number of tires, but primarily in sets of four,
>> bolted to a car or truck, same as Apple sells OSes: "bolted" to a computer.
>
>     I compare Apple to Microsoft, HP and Dell. They're all 
>hardware makers. Only two are OS makers for the average user. 
>Apple is in the software business and it's a major selling point 
>to them. If you go and look at their web site you can clearly 
>see that.

True, but there's a price to pay in loss of third-party support.
That happened in OS X, and may well happen again with iOS if Apple
follows the same pattern.

-- 
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern�s Law of Suspended Judgement]