Apple: No Longer A Computer Company?

[patrick0brien]

Just wait. At the next meeting when they release new Macs, there will be snarling and gnashing of teeth as to how Apple is no longer a mobile computing company and the iPhone is dead.

Personally, I prefer to try to not put Apple in a box, the analysts have been trying that for years and we know how well they have done.

 

[leekohler]

Apple will still make traditional desktop computers as long as there continues to be a real market for desktop computers....which I imagine will be for many, many years to come. Phones and tablets are all the rage now. So, they get all the attention (rightfully, in a business sense). However, that doesn't mean that companies, including Apple, will stop making desktop computers. They simply promote what's popular now. Regular computers are a comodity these days and not very exciting to the general public. But that doesn't mean regular computers will no longer be made. Have no fear.

Anyway, computers no longer really have the huge leap in advancements that they were having in the 90's. A computer releasing this year is not that much faster or more powerful than a computer released 6 years ago. At least not in ways significantly noticeable to most average people. My iMac from January of 2006 is just as useful and speedy for everything I do as a computer released today (except for modern gaming...though modern games still play fine on lower settings). Therfore, traditional computers can do fine with longer periods between new revisions or models.

I don't think the desktop will ever go away. It may change, but I doubt it disappears. As long as people need to edit pro video, photos, etc., they will be needed.

 

[patrick0brien]

I don't think the desktop will ever go away. It may change, but I doubt it disappears. As long as people need to edit pro video, photos, etc., they will be needed.

-leekohler

And I don't see rack farms magically using laptops either.

Ok, for everybody who's thinking "that's what blades, and xServes are for!", yes I know that, but how many racks have we seen with a desktop CPU in them because you could ponce over to best buy and replace a bad unit for pennys on the 1U dollar.

 

[leekohler]

-leekohler

And I don't see rack farms magically using laptops either.

Ok, for everybody who's thinking "that's what blades, and xServes are for!", yes I know that, but how many racks have we seen with a desktop CPU in them because you could ponce over to best buy and replace a bad unit for pennys on the 1U dollar.

Yep. And desktop components are easy and relatively cheap to replace as well. Laptop? No- it's a nightmare.

 

[Gasu E.]

Really? So I can run Photoshop and Final Cut Pro on all of them?

Sorry- they are not computers. They're mobile devices that have some computing capability.

I think you can edit photos and movies on several of them.

The fact that you can't run some specific title does not make something "not a computer." By your logic, a pre-Intel Mac was "not a computer", since it couldn't run thousands of Windows-only programs. And even post-Intel, you would still need to load Windows to turn the Mac into a "computer."

Perhaps I should have said they are not fully functional computers.

Amusingly, that modification of your original statement is even more apropos to the premise that a Mac needs Windows to be a "fully functional computer."

 

[leekohler]

I think you can edit photos and movies on several of them.

The fact that you can't run some specific title does not make something "not a computer." By your logic, a pre-Intel Mac was "not a computer", since it couldn't run thousands of Windows-only programs. And even post-Intel, you would still need to load Windows to turn the Mac into a "computer."



Amusingly, that modification of your original statement is even more apropos to the premise that a Mac needs Windows to be a "fully functional computer."

Fair enough. Do we also call a simple calculator a computer?

 

[longball11]

Just wait. At the next meeting when they release new Macs, there will be snarling and gnashing of teeth as to how Apple is no longer a mobile computing company and the iPhone is dead.

Personally, I prefer to try to not put Apple in a box, the analysts have been trying that for years and we know how well they have done.

you're joking right? O ok, just making sure. iPhone first then macs sir.

 

[CalBoy]

Perhaps I should have said they are not fully functional computers.

Define "fully functional" first though.

The iPhone (especially 4) has a lot of functionality that a conventional computer doesn't (making calls, GPS, being a very mobile camera, music player, etc).

No one is seriously expecting an iPhone to replace a macbook pro, but for a lot of people the combo of an iPhone and iPad can make a conventional computer only a rarely used tool. If you can replace your desktop or laptop much less often, and instead rely on more rapidly advancing smaller devices to fill the gap, why not?

I will say that Apple has clearly slowed down their mac update cycles. It seems we only get one product revision a year now for most of them. At first this made me feel frustrated too, but then I thought about it: how much do I really benefit with a new notebook? Quite honestly, aside from the gains in battery life, I don't think I would see much difference between a new mbp and my current one. I realize that this isn't the case for everyone, but I have to honestly wonder why anyone would need to buy more than one computer a year anyway.

The truly annoying thing about Apple sometimes, though, is how impressive and unimpressive the updates can be. On the one hand you'll get amazing features like a revolutionary battery, LED backlit screen, etc, but be without a very basic $5 feature that is found on almost every other laptop/desktop around.

 

[Damnations!]

No one thinks they're owed anything. A lot of people think Apple is not doing what they could with regard to their computers. I would be one of them. Judging from Apple's past, this would seem to be true. They are simply not updating their computer products or OS like they used to.

Do not ever say ANYTHING horrible about apple, or Jobs will knock you out.

 

[mscriv]

Here's an article with an email from Steve Jobs about this topic.

Please could you just quit it with your whinging and worrying that the Mac is dead as Apple rides off into the mobile markets and leaves its PC heartland behind -- Steve Jobs says all this speculation is “completely wrong”.
In his latest Stevemail, Apple’s top emailer tells us (via the revered Mac blogger and all round good guy, Dennis Sellers over at Macsimum News) that all these claims (which began with some flourish from Fake Steve) are, in his words, bogus...not to be worried about.

....

Myself, I’m sick of people making speculations like this on strength of Apple’s success in new markets. Far from undermining the platform, the real impact of the iPod, then the iPhone, on Apple’s Mac sales has been fantastic. Look at the numbers. Look at stats like “50 percent of Macs sold in the Apple retail stores are to new to the Mac users.”

Consider Inside Digital Media analyst, Phil Leigh, who thinks Apple's Mac sales will rise from about $18 billion this year to $27.5 billion in Fiscal 2014, on strength of the company’s successes with new products. That's a 50 percent mark-up in an overall computing industry that's anticipated to be relatively flat.

Far from decaying Apple's interest in the PC, the company's mobile products serve to boost credibility for the Mac platform while making the company generally more relevant (and therefore attractive) to the consumer computing markets. And a move to mobile devices is a future-focused move, one day all these platforms will converge once again. Already your iPhone has broadly more computing power inside it than a v.1 iMac.

 

[leekohler]

Define "fully functional" first though.

Any computer that can get professional work done, along with the fun stuff.

 

[*LTD*]

Any computer that can get professional work done, along with the fun stuff.

Apple sells these.

 

[CalBoy]

Any computer that can get professional work done, along with the fun stuff.

So if a professional needs to be able to answer emails on his/her train ride to work, wouldn't an iPhone (or any smartphone) be more fully functional than a traditional computer? At the very least it would be more efficient since it would be smaller and easier to manage on a crowded train.

What I'm getting at here is that different devices have different purposes, but that doesn't make them less than or more than their counterparts. An iPhone and iPad are still computers because like other computers, they can run programs, have a user interface, display information, have input and output mechanisms, and can be used for a variety of purposes.

I'm not saying an iPad or iPhone works for you, and that's ok. For someone like me though, who's going into a line of work that involves lots of reading, emailing, and conference calling, I stand to gain a lot of utility out of things in iOS 4. I will still need a traditional computer of course, but the "i" devices will go a long way for me.

 

[leekohler]

Apple sells these.

Really? Who knew?!

 

[marionette]

So the Mac Pro and Mini aren't computers?

So the Mac Pro and Mini aren't computers?

yes- I think the macmini is the most innovative and useful computer Apple has produced in recent years.
Didn't get the MacPro this time because the iMac is plenty powerful now.

I really need a new laptop-am carrying my macmini traveling because
the current laptops seem so out of date. My 'old one' still like brand new is not intel and won't really power things like superb new Canon portable scanner.

MacBook wish list
Retinal TOUCH SCREEN
very big hard drive
USB 3

re other posts
By being loyal Mac users, we are locked into 1 non competitive operating system and 1 provider of computer hardware-or the option to change to windows.
Does Apple owe us anything- like responding to our work productivity needs-like providing up to date compatible products?
No because now Apple has millions of so-called users who don't need to know a bean about computers rushing to buy anything they make at any price. Of course a few years ago people needed a blackberry, the same crowd then all rushed to apple.
This is a different crowd than the real Mac community who love to experiment and often contribute to the Mac .
For all Steve Jobs interest in design and the arts, the iPad without a proper stylus is no good for artists designers architects etal.
It could have been the all time great tool for students and business too-were handwriting recognition developed.
And why it has no simple modular setup to Mac computers ie USB connector escapes me.
Instead I think it is a marvelous invention of marginal relevance ie a very expensive toy-so far.

 

[KnightWRX]

Why did you ressurect this mess ? To tell miles, 2 years after the fact, that a Mac Pro is a computer, something he knew going in ?

----------

By being loyal Mac users, we are locked into 1 non competitive operating system and 1 provider of computer hardware-or the option to change to windows.

Not everyone is a loyal Mac user. Frankly, being loyal to any faceless corporation is plain ludicrous.

 

[NutsNGum]

Why did you ressurect this mess ? To tell miles, 2 years after the fact, that a Mac Pro is a computer, something he knew going in ?

----------



Not everyone is a loyal Mac user. Frankly, being loyal to any faceless corporation is plain ludicrous.

Newbie, man.

Cut 'em some slack.

Though, on your second point. I am in complete agreement.

 

[*LTD*]

Not everyone is a loyal Mac user. Frankly, being loyal to any faceless corporation is plain ludicrous.

Apple has a knack for earning it repeatedly. Consumers don't often stay loyal to crap - all that "fickleness" we hear about - but Apple seems to attract repeat customers, Yours Truly being one of them.

Apple's isn't faceless. They have a face. We recognize it in their products - fit and finish, UI, ease of use, and so on. The logo stands for the values of the company, and those values are in turn reflected in what they produce. As within, so without.

 

[robanga]

Change is good. The drive to make data creation and consumption on appliances is happening all around us. What makes a computer by definition is changing as well. Its an exciting time to be alive.

 

[KnightWRX]

What makes a computer by definition is changing as well.

No, it's not. A computer is an electronic device that takes input, processes it and provides output and storage. That includes watches, servers, car ECUs, PC desktops/laptops, tablets, smartphones, even your iPod.

Computer is a very generic term.

 

[robanga]

No, it's not. A computer is an electronic device that takes input, processes it and provides output and storage. That includes watches, servers, car ECUs, PC desktops/laptops, tablets, smartphones, even your iPod.

Computer is a very generic term.

True - I more correctly should have said: " What most be consider a computer to be is changing"

 

[KnightWRX]

True - I more correctly should have said: " What most be consider a computer to be is changing"

You're saying most people don't know what an actual computer is ?

Maybe what you really mean is "What is a PC is changing". Before, that was desktops and laptops. Now its stretching to include PMPs, PDAs, Smartphones and tablets. But this transition has been ongoing for the better part of 15 years now.

 

[smoledman]

Apple has a knack for earning it repeatedly. Consumers don't often stay loyal to crap - all that "fickleness" we hear about - but Apple seems to attract repeat customers, Yours Truly being one of them.

Apple's isn't faceless. They have a face. We recognize it in their products - fit and finish, UI, ease of use, and so on. The logo stands for the values of the company, and those values are in turn reflected in what they produce. As within, so without.

Microsoft has a knack for re-earning loyalty. After the Vista mess, who could have guessed Windows 7 would become the best-selling OS of all time by far? Pushing 600 million licenses already...

 

[*LTD*]

Microsoft has a knack for re-earning loyalty. After the Vista mess, who could have guessed Windows 7 would become the best-selling OS of all time by far? Pushing 600 million licenses already...

Universal licensing to every OEM under the sun + the cheap/sub-$500 PC market.

That's not product loyalty. It's market flooding.

For instance, when all people can afford is something below $1000, it's not loyalty, it's having to settle for what you can afford. Windows also plays heavily in the enterprise, for obvious (though hardly flattering) reasons.

The mindshare divide between Micro-boring and Apple is like night and day. "Loyalty" to both platforms will be for very different reasons - namely, it will usually be genuine for one, and a question of economics and interoperability with enterprise software for the other.

 

[smoledman]

Universal licensing to every OEM under the sun + the cheap/sub-$500 PC market.

That's not product loyalty. It's market flooding.

For instance, when all people can afford is something below $1000, it's not loyalty, it's having to settle for what you can afford. Windows also plays heavily in the enterprise, for obvious (though hardly flattering) reasons.

The mindshare divide between Micro-boring and Apple is like night and day. "Loyalty" to both platforms will be for very different reasons - namely, it will usually be genuine for one, and a question of economics and interoperability with enterprise software for the other.

You just can't stand the idea that MSFT will never go out of business. In the worst case scenario all their consumer business dries up and they become IBM.