Slashdot Mirror
Top Ten Apple Rumors of All Time
An anonymous reader writes "CNET have taken a look back at 30 years of Apple rumors during which we have witnessed Apple's 'rise, fall, and rise again, like a kind of technological Jesus Christ.' Some of the rumors are outrageous, and some came true. The list includes such treasures as the Apple-Nintendo merger, which the article calls 'utterly outlandish,' and the persistent rumor that Apple will release Mac OS X for PC — described as 'so counter-productive and financially damaging for Apple that we doubt the company has ever seriously considered it.' There is also mention of the iPhone, which CNET says is 'an elaborate hoax dreamed up by Steve Jobs to keep journalists busy.'"
the persistent rumor that Apple will release Mac OS X for PC -- described as 'so counter-productive and financially damaging for Apple that we doubt the company has ever seriously considered it.'
Yeah, because it sure hurt Microsoft so release an operating system for the PC, and not come out with their own hardware [sarcasm]. Where does this dumb idea come from? Very, very, very VERY few people buy Apple primarily because they like the hardware. People buy Apple because they like the software. When it comes to computers, APPLE IS A SOFTWARE COMPANY. They are NOT a hardware company!
Within a year, Apple could potentially be the world dominant software supplier if they would just get a clue.
Would it be harder to support a lot of different hardware? Of course! So what? They need to stop being cowards and take the plunge.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
The reverse, however, is a very doable possibility. If Apple were to pre-load Widows on Macs, or even better, partner with a PC maker like Dell to load and sell, they could make a nice profit selling desirable, expensive hardware, get massive application and driver support, and Microsoft would actually be on their side.
Why partner? Apple fans would interpret it as a move away from OSX. They would be unhappy in a major way. If they ship the computers to Dell and Dell loads the OS, taking a nice percentage in the process, then Apple fans might not feel so bad about the situation.
It would be a great experiment. If the Apple hardware turned out to not be so popular with PC folks, they could pull out without pissing off too much in their customer base. But if they turn out to be popular? Lets just say that the iPod and iTunes are available to PC users for a reason. That reason is that there are a lot more PC users than Mac users, therefore they have the opportunity to make more money. By "more money," I mean "huge fucking mountains of cash that they could never hope to make off of the tiny Mac community."
As the guy said, the evidence shows that Apple is a hardware company with a nice OS thrown in for "free". But via Boot Camp, Apple has freely acknowledged that other OSs can run just fine on their hardware. They'd be fools to not capitalize on the Windows market for high end hardware, if it exists in enough numbers. Even with a small percentage of the Windows market, Apple could make many times what they do now.
BTW, the biggest argument I've heard against this boils down to "Steve loves OS X like his wife, children and America combined! And Microsoft is Evil! So is Dell!" He went to Intel. He released boot camp. He makes most of his money from music players. He's on the board of Disney. Apple is a business. If it makes business sense, they'll do it.
TW