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Jul. 6th, 2005
The Computer for the Best of Us
Jul. 6th, 2005 03:05 pmAn interesting little article that lightly dissects Apple's marketing of OS X Tiger to reveal their real market niche: elite users. iPods, high end digital cameras, consumer grade HD video editing, h.264 codec for the iSight. All their new technology revolves around expensive devices for expensive computers.
And that's not a bad thing at all. Every market needs their B&O or Mercedes. But I continue to lament an egalitarian alternative to Microsoft. In fact, in light of Apple's current and rather unrelenting drive up the market I find myself waiting for Microsoft. When they finally get their security affairs in order they can continue to lead as the computer for the rest of us. They will be able to deliver on a sub-$1000 modern computer with a GPU accelerated interface, data driven file system, flat panel screen and all that fancy new stuff.
Sure if you buy an iMac today you get all that stuff. But it's not affordable for most people in the market for a computer.
And Mac Heads, don't get smug about the usability just yet. Remember that Microsoft was able to take a giant leap in those terms with Windows XP. A similar leap is expected for Longhorn.
So Apple doesn't have a mass market product nor marketing that addresses a large audience. Any explanation at this point would be entirely speculative. We can only wonder if Apple ever intends to leave their kingdom and join the rest of us? And if that happens will they lose all of their cachet?
And that's not a bad thing at all. Every market needs their B&O or Mercedes. But I continue to lament an egalitarian alternative to Microsoft. In fact, in light of Apple's current and rather unrelenting drive up the market I find myself waiting for Microsoft. When they finally get their security affairs in order they can continue to lead as the computer for the rest of us. They will be able to deliver on a sub-$1000 modern computer with a GPU accelerated interface, data driven file system, flat panel screen and all that fancy new stuff.
Sure if you buy an iMac today you get all that stuff. But it's not affordable for most people in the market for a computer.
And Mac Heads, don't get smug about the usability just yet. Remember that Microsoft was able to take a giant leap in those terms with Windows XP. A similar leap is expected for Longhorn.
So Apple doesn't have a mass market product nor marketing that addresses a large audience. Any explanation at this point would be entirely speculative. We can only wonder if Apple ever intends to leave their kingdom and join the rest of us? And if that happens will they lose all of their cachet?