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Will apple stop making computers?
- Thread starter benwizkid
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Technically, iOS devices are running Mac OS at the core. But I do understand your point.
Personally, I don't see Apple getting out of the computer business per se. What I do see is more of a convergence with the iDevices and maybe a possible slimming down of the product lineup on the computer side.
No they wont stop selling computers.
Honestly I think apple uses iDevices to lure people to their computer lineup. Everyone I know who switched to Mac, including myself, started with an iPod and like it so much we became "Apple curious"
Honestly I think apple uses iDevices to lure people to their computer lineup. Everyone I know who switched to Mac, including myself, started with an iPod and like it so much we became "Apple curious"
Agree with this.
The iOS devices have spurred Apple computer sales. IMHO, while I don't have the raw data, I believe that a majority of switchers come over to the Mac side because of their positive experience with various iDevices.
I think you're right about their strategy. I'm one of what must be a small minority who switched to Mac and have never owned or been slightly interested in any iPod, iPad, iPhone, etc.
Curious. If you don't mind saying, what compelled you to switch over to the Mac platform?
I had used an Apple II and some earlier Macs, and also had some experience with NeXT, but spent most of my business life on Windows PCs, beginning with owning a company that sold IBM PCs when they were first introduced. Much of my work required Windows, for compatibility purposes and because some industry software only ran on Windows.
I grew tired of having to constantly maintain Windows, cleaning up the Registry, optimizing disk storage, rebooting to free up RAM, giving up too many system resources to anti-virus solutions, etc. I did this not only for my systems, but for clients, as well. It really gets old after so many years (since Windows 3.1)
A change in the focus of my business finally freed me to make the switch without negative impact on my revenue. I spent about a year doing research (including reading this forum) before the transition, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. I now spend most of my time actually using my computer, rather than constantly fiddling with it to keep it running efficiently.
Apple will NEVER stop making computers... Even if they focus on iDevices, they will still make CPU
What he said. We were discussing Apple computers, and right now Intel makes CPUs for them.
The A4 goes into the iPad and i believe a derivative of the A4 powers the iPhone 4/ iPod Touch 4G
I could see them doing something like that in the future, maybe when they decide that OS X is getting too old OS 11 may be based on iOS, but I don't think that will happen for at least 10 or 20 years.
It's going to happens much sooner than 10-20 years. Jobs basically said there will be no places for PCs in the consumer market. If the market for PCs are limited only to pros, all Apple needs to make is a MacPro (and possibly a high-end MacBook Pro if these pros need portability.)
This quote from Jobs shows the direction Apple is heading:
"When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks, because that's what you needed on the farm. But as vehicles started to be used in the urban centers, cars got more popular. Innovations like automatic transmission and power steering and things that you didn't care about in a truck as much started to become paramount in cars.
PCs are going to be like trucks. They're still going to be around, they're still going to have a lot of value, but they're going to be used by one out of X people.
I think that we're embarked on that. Is [the next step] the iPad? Who knows? Will it happen next year or five years from now or seven years from now? Who knows? But I think we're headed in that direction."
Fair point. I didn't read the posts correctly.
I hope Apple will continue making computers, however I see it to be rather unlikely.
Based on iOS for what ? The UI ? UIKit framework instead of Appkit ?
Comments like this one and the person you were responding to are so disingenious. OS X and iOS already share much in the way of components. What they don't share, mostly the UI layer and a few higher level frameworks, they can't share because of the limitations of mobile devices or full sized "desktop" computers. Let's face it, Cocoa Touch and UIKit will never make for a good desktop experience. They are designed to work on mobile devices. Same way that AppKit and mouse input wouldn't work on a mobile devices.
However, the OS kernel (scheduler, driver architecture, memory management), Core Services (audio, display, video, hardware access) all pretty much can be shared between both.
Mac OS X is a distribution, it's not an OS per say. Think of it more like a Red Hat Linux than Microsoft Windows. iOS is the same. Both use the same Kernel, both use the same Core Services and if I had spare change to bet, I'd say the display server is probably the same between both too.
I don't think they'll stop, but computers will not be their focus. This actually has already occured. Look at the software for iPad/iPhone stuff, like iMovie and iWork. Apple has been busy creating/updating those suites but the desktop flavors of those apps has not seen any love.
Update cycles for the OS, apps and hardware seem to be lengthening as well.
Update cycles for the OS, apps and hardware seem to be lengthening as well.
Since the iPad is a computer, let's stop and ask what we really mean. Will Apple stop selling laptops? Everyone and her cousin has one, and, they wear out. Apple is making billions selling them. Will keyboards become obsolete? Many iDevices have a virtual keyboard. What are you typing on now? It seems unlikely that virtual keyboards will replace physical keyboards when people have to actually type documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.
So, maybe you are asking if Apple will stop selling desktop and server computers. Maybe. In my org, there are a lot more laptops than desktops. Most people have a laptop and a desktop monitor and keyboard that they use at the desk. Most of the servers run Linux. Mac Pros are on a pretty long update schedule. So, maybe eventually Apple will stop selling desktop computers. On the other hand, following the truck/car analogy, a lot of companies still make a lot of money selling trucks, even if there are a lot more cars on the road. As long as it is profitable, why should Apple stop selling desktop computers, any more than Ford should stop selling trucks?
