4 ms·

>When Apple was a niche PC maker, it needed the web as a way to help potential customers de-risk the purchase of luxury computers. What does this statement eve

>When Apple was a niche PC maker, it needed the web as a way to help potential customers de-risk the purchase of luxury computers. What does this statement even mean?

offlinenative 4y ago
While it enjoyed outsized influence, the Mac never had enough share to create a sufficiently large software ecosystem w/o the web. In this era (~'98-'12), the web provided a bridge over a moat formed by a competitor's proprietary stack winning through momentum and network effects. The web went "over the top" of both Macs and PCs, and while Apple desperately coveted native app builders for the Mac, was at least savvy enough to know that if it could add the universe of great web apps to the Mac experience, it would be a market-reality help at point of sale.
smadge 4y ago
The other posts in the chain go into more detail. By improving and pushing the web experience on Mac, Apple gets access to a whole ecosystem of web-based application which make the Mac more valuable to customer, instead of relying solely on 3rd party native Mac application developers.
svachalek 4y ago
It's saying that small market participants benefit from open standards and compatibility. People are buying a different entry point into a massive shared resource, rather than choosing between a massive network and a niche player.
- joenathanone 4y ago
  That makes sense. 'De-risk the purchase luxury computer' is such a strange phrase. Maybe it should be de-risk the purchase of a specialty computer? Hell an IBM PC could be considered a luxury computer compared to off brand IBM compatibles.
mywittyname 4y ago
During that era, MacOS suffered from a severe lack of third-party software. This was the biggest thing keeping customers from purchasing Macs. Computers are only useful if they have software. But lack of software wasn't an issue for websites, since Safari could, in theory, run any website as well as any Windows computer could.
- nextos 4y ago
  Same strategy as Google in the chat space. Promote standards as an incumbent, then closed solutions once you reach a sufficient market share.
  - dmitriid 4y ago
    Google also has another strategy: push and promote non-standards as if they were standards by publishing their specs in the form of a non-binding document on w3c. Example: - Already shipped in Chrome and advertised https://web.dev/webtransport/ https://web.dev/webtransport/ - Status: Working Draft https://www.w3.org/TR/webtransport/ https://www.w3.org/TR/webtransport/ which means it not even close to being a standard (see why here: https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#w3c-recommendation-track https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#w3c-recommendation...)
Eduard 4y ago
I understand it like so: Apple computers are the luxury computers. Up to the early 90s, most households didn't have computers; but when the Internet became mainstream from mid 90s onwards, more and more people bought computers to "use the Internet". If Apple wouldn't have an offering/environment which allows for using the Internet (... Network stack, browser, e-mail client, dialup drivers, etc.), people would avoid buying Apple computers.

>When Apple was a niche PC maker, it needed the web as a way to help potential customers de-risk the purchase of luxury computers. What does this statement even mean?

offlinenative 4y ago

While it enjoyed outsized influence, the Mac never had enough share to create a sufficiently large software ecosystem w/o the web. In this era (~'98-'12), the web provided a bridge over a moat formed by a competitor's proprietary stack winning through momentum and network effects. The web went "over the top" of both Macs and PCs, and while Apple desperately coveted native app builders for the Mac, was at least savvy enough to know that if it could add the universe of great web apps to the Mac experience, it would be a market-reality help at point of sale.

smadge 4y ago

The other posts in the chain go into more detail. By improving and pushing the web experience on Mac, Apple gets access to a whole ecosystem of web-based application which make the Mac more valuable to customer, instead of relying solely on 3rd party native Mac application developers.

svachalek 4y ago

It's saying that small market participants benefit from open standards and compatibility. People are buying a different entry point into a massive shared resource, rather than choosing between a massive network and a niche player.

joenathanone 4y ago
That makes sense. 'De-risk the purchase luxury computer' is such a strange phrase. Maybe it should be de-risk the purchase of a specialty computer? Hell an IBM PC could be considered a luxury computer compared to off brand IBM compatibles.

mywittyname 4y ago

During that era, MacOS suffered from a severe lack of third-party software. This was the biggest thing keeping customers from purchasing Macs. Computers are only useful if they have software. But lack of software wasn't an issue for websites, since Safari could, in theory, run any website as well as any Windows computer could.

nextos 4y ago
Same strategy as Google in the chat space. Promote standards as an incumbent, then closed solutions once you reach a sufficient market share.
- dmitriid 4y ago
  Google also has another strategy: push and promote non-standards as if they were standards by publishing their specs in the form of a non-binding document on w3c. Example: - Already shipped in Chrome and advertised https://web.dev/webtransport/ https://web.dev/webtransport/ - Status: Working Draft https://www.w3.org/TR/webtransport/ https://www.w3.org/TR/webtransport/ which means it not even close to being a standard (see why here: https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#w3c-recommendation-track https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#w3c-recommendation...)

Eduard 4y ago

I understand it like so: Apple computers are the luxury computers. Up to the early 90s, most households didn't have computers; but when the Internet became mainstream from mid 90s onwards, more and more people bought computers to "use the Internet". If Apple wouldn't have an offering/environment which allows for using the Internet (... Network stack, browser, e-mail client, dialup drivers, etc.), people would avoid buying Apple computers.