Print 23 comment(s) - last by clnee55.. on Jan 10 at 2:05 PM

Apples stands to benefit in the areas of motherboard and processor design.

Apple's switch to Intel will finally give the Cupertino company a comparable processor platform to the big name PC OEMs on both desktop and notebook machines. Apple notebooks have long had the looks to wow consumers, but their performance was really nothing to brag aboout when compared to PC notebooks. Apple could also benefit in other areas of development if the rumors of Intel's decision to design Mac motherboards become reality. The move to Intel is expected to boost Apple's worldwide marketshare from roughly 3% of the computer market to 6% by the end of 2007.

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hmm i think its incomplete
By ncage on 1/9/2006 12:42:25 PM , Rating: 2
I don't know how apple is going to increase their market share with this move. There was nothing wrong with the power processor. I think they are making a mistake by allowing apple OS to only run on specific mac hardare. I can't seem like its that much different before. Apple needs to learn the margins are high on software and low on hardware. I think their marketshare would soar if they would allow the os to run on other hardware. I think this is what contributed to the demise of apple and to the rise of microsoft. In the early years apple clearly had the better OS.

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By retrospooty on 1/9/2006 1:04:59 PM , Rating: 2
Yup... Exactly.

Honestly, if OSX were allowed to be installed on any x86 machine I would love to install it and have a dual XP/OSX machine. I would gladly buy OSX and make Aplle money. Since they won't do that, and I cannot buy it, I will be forced to use the pirated/cracked versions that will be available. LOL Stupid Apple again.

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By Wahsapa on 1/10/2006 1:24:22 AM , Rating: 2
if apple sold os x for generic PCs they would charge $1000+ per copy. i know for a fact you would not pay that when you could pirate it for free anyway which youre already doing. apples not stupid, selling os x86 standalone is.

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By ncage on 1/10/2006 12:36:40 PM , Rating: 2
How do you get that? Yes one of the biggest task would be writing drivers. A lot of that would be taken care of by the hardware manufact. If they wanted their hardware to work for this new os then they would have to write drivers for it. Please don't call something stupid without explaining yourself.

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By Enclydion on 1/9/2006 2:17:47 PM , Rating: 2
Apple are going to increase market share, for one reason: dual and triple boot capability. Apple are not stopping people from running Windows (or their favourite *nix) on x86 Macs. What they are doing is adding stuff to their boards and 'locking' OSX so that it only runs on Apple hardware. Sure, there'll be crackers out there bypassing Apple's protections. Not an issue, really. But for the new box buyers, this dual-boot feature is a BIG plus, especially with Windows' bad reputation for security.

(Do remember, though, that the people who read forums such as these are geeks and tech-dweebs, and whilst we run the internet, we're a minority ... 85% of computer users, irrespective of platform, are sheeple who treat their machines like a toaster or a VCR. Apple knows this, which is why they're not at all worried.)

And then there's Microsoft. VirtualPC is being re-jigged to provide some seriously tight integration with the OSX shell. This will mean you can scatter your apps anywhere, open a Win32 icon and you'll see OSX-ified XP-style windows for the app, with the rest of OSX ticking away happily. Dare I say, the new VitualPC will mean that Windows XP will become the new 'Classic' environment for Mac OS X!

There's one thing I can forsee happening: Apple will eventually release a 'teaser' version of Mac OS X that will boot on any generic, sufficiently-powerful Intel or AMD machine, based around the 10.4.5 kernel. This will be sold for next-to-nothing (possibly even free, if CoreOS have their way) and be used to lure disgruntled Windows users into the Apple camp.

Interesting times ahead!

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By ncage on 1/10/2006 12:40:56 PM , Rating: 2
I think thats a good point on something you could do with an apple pc but i think your point is kind of contradicted. You say that most people treat their pc's as general appliances then you go to say that they will increase market share with dual boot systems. Do you think those people who don't know anything about computers are going to dual/triple boot their systems? Are you going to pay a lot more for your hardware so that you can boot the apple os?

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By plinden on 1/9/2006 3:40:23 PM , Rating: 3
Hmm, I think Apple have probably done the math - say OS X remains at $129. That means they would have to sell between 10 and 20 times more software units than hardware units to get the same income. Even if software does have higher margins, they would need to able to guarantee 25-30% market share to make it worthwhile.

I'm guessing they will do it sometime, but not until they see how market share changes with their current strategy.

If they did allow it to run on any x86 PC, I would put it on my own PCs, especially if the few windows apps I need run seamlessly. But I would still have maybe one Apple-branded computer, for the seamless integration of hardware and software (not to mention such pluses as OpenFirmware and firewire target-disk mode, which are unlikely to be available in cheap motherboards) - I've done my research and I think Apple hardware is worth the 20% extra (no, it's not 2x the price) you typically pay for it over Windows PCs.

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By ncage on 1/10/2006 12:47:45 PM , Rating: 2
Look at microsoft. How much hardware do they sell? A fey keyboards/mice/xbox & stuff like that but where do their majority of funds come from? Can you think of any company that has more available cash than microsoft? I think a lot of people feel the apple os is superior because its based on the freebsd kernal if i remember correctly. No $129 is not much but after the code an os (pay for developer time) the money they are making on each copy is $129 - Cost of burning the cd and packaging which is huge. Think about it this way they have to pay developer time no matter how popular their os but if they can sell a lot of copies they are making like 95% profit off their sale. Apple's biggest mistake is trying to make money off of hardware which currently today has low margens.

RE: hmm i think its incomplete
By mircea on 1/9/2006 6:16:30 PM , Rating: 2
The most that Apple will get right now out of the Intel Mac is the battery life it needed in notebooks. The performance might not be as visible to user as it will be the extra hour/s.


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