

  (Source: Reuters)
Apple has a change of heart with its NDA for released software







Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.


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RE: A Non-Solution
By michael2k on 10/1/2008 6:58:19 PM , Rating: 0
They did iPhoto and Aperture from scratch.

And, as for potential base... Apple sells about 8m Macs a year now. If you count OS X systems since 2004 alone, that means any Mac app you developed would have an install base of 20m (which is still millions in the plural). If you count all OS X installs (essentially any computer since 2002), that number goes up to 30m trivially.

Or put in comparison, everyone writing a Wii game? The install base is only 20m. Or everyone writing an XBox game? Also about 20m. Heck, the PS3 only has an install base of about 5m I think, yet people are still writing games for that platform.

So... yeah, the Mac install base is actually large enough to support any market you want.

RE: A Non-Solution
By Fenixgoon on 10/1/2008 8:09:47 PM , Rating: 2
and there are how many computers running windows? enough that those 30M OSX installs look absolutely trivial by comparison.

RE: A Non-Solution
By michael2k on 10/2/2008 11:49:12 AM , Rating: 2
Who cares if it is "trivial", the whole point is it is profitable. There are more PCs than XBoxes, yet writing XBox games is profitable!

There are more Macs than PS3s, XBoxes, and Wiis combined... and on top of that, people who buy Macs spend more, and are therefore wealthier, than people who buy PCs.

Even if Apple only has 8% market share in the US this year, it still pulls in nearly 1/3 of the revenue of the entire market. The same goes to software, I am sure, and why Microsoft still produces Mac Office.

So 30m OS X installs is trivial in volume, but not trivial in value.

