Slashdot Mirror
Apple CFO Gives Info on Company Direction
osViews.com writes "Mac World is reporting a recent talk given by Apple's Chief Financial Officer (Peter Oppenheimer) at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium. The article illustrates several things about about Apple's business plan, much of which is totally new information about the company's current and future direction. Here's the nutshell summary: iPod "Halo" effect is causing some Windows switchers, little demand for satellite radio/iPod integration, iPod shuffle margins below HD ipods, happy with rate of growth - no plans to license OS X, margins on Mac mini equal to eMac (both below corporate average), retail store to expand to 125, no plans for media center PC - prefers to stream multimedia to TV from primary computer over wireless network, no video for iPod, portable media centers a failure."
Kudos to the submitter and the editor for posting a useful and interesting story with a useful and concise summary. I wish we had more stories done exactly like this one.
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
That depends on how much it costs to develop, and how many computers are already owned by the target audience. I have a video projector and a lot of other AV equipment and I've had various rackmount form factor computers hooked up to it. I like having all of it right there usable with the wireless IR keyboard. For quite some time my DVD playback was through the computer. I've since taken that computer apart and not gotten it back together, so right now I'm without a web browser in there.
If too many Apple fans already have a G3 or G4 tower laying around that has been obseleted by a more powerful Apple then they probably would hook that computer up instead of this one. Even an iMac could be integrated into an AV cabinet using a "TV View" or other VGA to NTSC device, or people could upgrade to something nicer like a TV with RGB inputs or digital. If too many people have other fairly easy options then Apple won't sell enough of these "Express 2" devices to pay off the development costs, let alone get into profit.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Everything Apple's ever done has, according to people who get paid to be taken seriously, been the death knell of the company.
And the only thing that's stopping some people from buying Macs isn't the price point or the applications, it's the games.
Feel free to spout off the list of everything with Mac support, and realize that Painkiller, System Shock, GTA, Half-Life, Half-Life 2 (and by extent Steam, CCS, etc) and a shitload of other games aren't available. And several Mac ports have been gutted on the way over- it's an old example, but Baldur's Gate for the Mac is missing multiplayer and any character customization capability.
There's a large chunk of the vocal PC userbase who use the thing as glorified nintendo- it's really (imo) the ONLY area where the PC has any kind of advantage over the Mac.
running OS X on a piece of shit Fry's discount x86 box doth not a Mac make.
I don't buy that Apple will buy Tivo, but I can see them creating a Tivo-like device with these abilities:
DVR with free remote control service (why free? wait a second)
Ties right into the iTunes Movie store.
Right, Movie store. Imagine Jobs going to the MPAA and saying "Hey, remember all the problems the RIAA had with downloading? Lawsuits didn't help enough - but now we have legal music, and people are buying music online, and look how many songs I've sold.
"Join with me, and we can end this pointless conflict, and bring order to - *cough*, I mean, we can sell movies."
The PC/Mac will still be the hub - use iTunes to buy music, or buy a movie. You can put either on a new iPod, but for the movies, the iView (just a name I threw in) will be the best way.
Want to watch a movie? Forget Netflix - just use the iTunes store. How about a documentary (independent movie makers who have limited releases would love this - what if you could pick up a documentary for $10, and around 50,000 people all wanted to - now that little indie project just broke even).
Miss a TV show? Why DVR it (though you have that power) when you can go to your computer, type "Battlestar" or "Babylon" to get the entire current archives (including commercial), and for $3 (or $20 for the entire season), you can watch your movies *now* (or, with broadband and figuring about 300 MB per 30 minutes, about 30 minutes or so).
The biggest thing of this is what it turns Apple into. With the iPod and the iTunes Music store, apple is moving away from hardware systems, and going towards hardware accessories and services. Eventually, I can see a Linux client - but in the end, Apple won't care what you run as long as you buy an iPod and use their iTunes store for movies and music - they still make money (though they'll still tell you a Mac will work better, and as the services do well they'll sell more Macs along the way).
Anyway, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
OSX is in fact irrelevant to Apple's future, as are most other major operating systems to their creators. What is the future, and the iPod and Nokia's 200million per year mobile phone sales prove, is that various interconnected devices that confirm to industry standard protocols are the way forward. The electronic musical instrument industry has proven this thanks to the amazing success of MIDI which binds most instruments, yet each instrument is based on it's own unique software/hardware. OSX will become a server OS and Apple will eventually tailor software to suite the client device - as per the iPod which communicates with it's host using standard protocols (USB, MP3, Firewire etc). And if Apple don't (continue) to do this, an as yet unheard of (unformed?) company will, and they will sell products in the sort of quantities Nokia do, which dwarf even sales of the iPod and Mac. Ironically, Nokia could become the all powerful mega entity that networks our world. After all, the future is all based on communication and sharing.
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
I am a college student, and I bought my "good for college students" Mac more than a year before anyone had even heard of the Mini! Saying "the Mini is a good value" is good, but saying it's the only Apple with good value is just FUD.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Even for those people that are OK with the idea, most desktop computers have too much fan noise to be used for the purpose.
You go with your idea. It's just the thing that geeks do. I might consider doing it myself. But recognise that you and I are in the tiny minority.
they wanted the family geek's advice on what kind of computer to get to replace it.
Yes, I think that's how most people decide to buy computers - word of mouth from trusted friends & family.
Lucky for her (and Apple), you're obviously a Mac enthusiast, but 97% of the market is not, and will continue to advise people to get what THEY know.
(Most of my computer using relatives know nothing about Macs, just that they can't stand them because they only have one mouse button, don't have any software, no one uses them at work, and are too expensive, blah, blah, blah. Guess what most of my extended family uses? Windows...)
I guess that's why us Apple fan(atic)s get so annoyingly evangelical: we have to get our 2% voices heard about the 97% louder voices.
Adding to what you said:
At this point, every geek I know (hardly a scientific sample, I know) who used to build their own unix/ linux boxes has now bought a powerbook. Eventually they just got tired of fooling with something that was going to be their primary machine (plus BSD tends to be a pain on laptops).
I know... I'm getting flamed for this one.
Cool art gallery, if you're into that sort of thing.
The iTunes TV Store for $1 an episode!
Or $15 a month!
That's the back end solution I'm sure Apple will find.
GPL Deconstructed
Putting video on an iPod would require much bigger iPods than we have now. And Apple thinks there isn't a market for it. And lack of interest in PMCs means they are probably right.
Okay, forget size for a moment.
Where can you get a $499 PC with:
CD-RW
DVD-ROM
Firewire
non integrated, non shared 32mb video (ATI or NVIDIA)
And with software, to boot:
Movie making
DVD making
Music making
Photo album
Yes, all that software exists. Yes all that hardware exists. None, to my knowledge, come in kit that's $499. For $349 you can get a PC without CD-RW and with shared video ram and integrated video. For $649 you can get the video+CD-RW and DVD.
Likewise software; for $699 or more, you get the movie making software, but for bundles of $499? You get Quicken or Windows XP Home and Norton Antivirus.
GPL Deconstructed
Let's be conservative and call it a 100 Million.
That means 92 percent DO NOT play one of the most populare games out today.
A clear majority, even if you let the "other party" count the votes.
--Phillip
Can you say BIRTH TAX