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Schiller Says Apple Is the Last PC Maker From the Mac Era, Forgets About HP

Posted by timothy on from the I-feel-happy-I-feel-happy dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, recently claimed that Apple is the only computer company left from the early days of the Mac. Unfortunately for him, HP still exists. "Every company that made computers when we started the Mac, they're all gone," Schiller told Macworld in an interview on Apple's Cupertino campus. 'We're the only one left.' I'm sorry Apple, but when exactly did HP declare bankruptcy? We contacted an HP spokesperson for a statement on Apple's ridiculous claim and were pointed to its timeline history page."

13 of 474 comments (clear)

  1. Oh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Wow, he really must be the spawn of satan. How dare he make a mistake. We must hate on Apple as hard as we can.

    1. Re:Oh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He didn't make a mistake, he knowingly made a false statement in order to posture Apple above other computer makers. It is not possible for anyone that has anything to do with the computer industry in a professional capacity to "forget" about IBM, HP, Dell, Acer, NEC, Sony, Cray, Fujitsu, etc. who all made computers from before or since the Mac to current day.

  2. !HP by iroll · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Comparing today's HP to the HP of the 80s, I'm inclined to side with Schiller.

    --
    Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
    1. Re:!HP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Doing the same comparison on Apple yields the same results.

      Woz must be turning in his grave.

    2. Re:!HP by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Are you thinking of Apple of the 70s? Woz was basically out by 1981.

      Apple today is very much like Apple of the early Mac years: building computers that are small, easy, and appliance-like.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    3. Re:!HP by bloodhawk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Today's Apple is also nothing like the Apple of 80's. It is arguably undergone even more drastic changes than HP.

    4. Re:!HP by Patch86 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Assuming you don't count the whole messy business with NeXt- i.e., Jobs leaving, founding a competing company, Apple heading to the point of bankruptcy, buying NeXt in a sort of reverse takeover in which the NeXt board (i.e. Jobs) takes control of the company, replacing their entire product line (Mac OS) with NeXt products. And then, of course, switching their primary business model to selling audio players and phones, with their major revenue source being a content distribution platform.

      So yeah, definitely exactly the same company as existed in 1986.

      I still take your point, but it's disingenuous to pretend that Apple hasn't been through the corporate meat grinder just as much as any other long-lived company.

  3. Re:still exist, but... by timmyf2371 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who do you think manufactures Apple's computers, if not the likes of Foxconn and Pegatron?

    --

    Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
  4. Marketing guy says something untrue? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A marketing guy said something untrue? SAY IT ISN'T SO!

    I'm guessing the only reason this story is here is so they can rack a couple OMG APPLE IS SO ARROGANT FUCK THEM posts from 7-digit newcomers around here.

    God I miss the pre-Dice Slashdot.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  5. Re:And IBM by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I still count IBM. I believe that quite was, "Every company that made computers when we started the Mac, they're all gone."

    IBM is still around. Maybe they sold their business, but the company is still around and the business they sold to Lenovo is still going strong.
    Likewise for HP, Dell, hell even Atari are still around. Sure their businesses have changed, but so did Apple's. Mac has far less mindshare than iPhone and iTunes these days.

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
  6. Hey, Johnny-come-lately... by Slartibartfast · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought the story was a reasonable one. While I do miss the pre-Dice days, the days I really miss are the pre-Y2K days. Taco commentary, movie reviews, "quickies," Hemos, Cowboy Neal poll options... I just enjoyed the by-the-seat-of-their-pants feel. And that has been gone for quite some time. Certainly before you registered. ;-)

  7. Re: still exist, but... by SerpentMage · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And how is this relevant? BTW did you know that PC's way back in the days of Mac used standard components? It is only Mac that uses stupid custom components giving them some of the worst repair ratings in the industry.

    --

    "You can't make a race horse of a pig"
    "No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
  8. Re:Look at 1995 by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think you nailed it. 30 years ago HP didn't have a computer line for home users. IBM did, but they don't now. Apple did then, and they still do now. Their claim is really quite defensible. The guy should have said "Of all the companies that were making consumer computers in 1984, we're the only one left that's still doing it." But I think it's not a stretch to interpret his sentence in just this way.