5 ms·

"1. Admit it. You're out of the hardware game. Outsource your hardware production, or scrap it entirely, to compete more directly with Microsoft without the lia

mootothemax 12y ago
"1. Admit it. You're out of the hardware game. Outsource your hardware production, or scrap it entirely, to compete more directly with Microsoft without the liability of manufacturing boxes." Good thing they didn't 'admit it'. Isn't this essentially what they've done with Foxconn and the other China-based producers they work with?
- steven2012 12y ago
  No. What they meant is to be a software-only company, ie. compete with MSFT without the liability of hardware.
  - jiggy2011 12y ago
    But plenty of the other suggestions are about building hardware.
    - Eric_WVGG 12y ago
      They're competing ideas from different industry-folk. There's a ton of contradiction in the article, and that was kind of the point.
  - mootothemax 12y ago
    No. What they meant is to be a software-only company, ie. compete with MSFT without the liability of hardware Disagree. Apple had half-tried and experimented doing this with the "official" clones programme, e.g. Power computing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_clone#Official_Macintosh_clone_program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_clone#Official_Macint... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Computing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Computing
    - mwfunk 12y ago
      Right, they half-tried it. This item is telling them to go all in on it.
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
They did outsource their hardware production...like mostly everyone else in the industry did.
- mwfunk 12y ago
  You're talking about components and assembly, but that's not what's being suggested here. This was from a time period where there was almost universal consensus that Microsoft's horizontal business model (sell the OS and let other companies create hardware to run it on) was thought to have utterly and completely demolished Apple's vertical business model (create and sell both the hardware and the software that runs on it) for all time. The narrative was that Microsoft had beaten Apple in large part because the horizontal model was always going to beat the vertical model. In hindsight, it obviously isn't that simple- there's room for both models in the industry, and each has its own set of risks, rewards, strengths, and weaknesses, all of which are constantly changing as the industry evolves. But yeah, that particular item isn't telling Apple to outsource assembly and components, it's telling Apple to stop even thinking about hardware and to try to become Microsoft circa 1997.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    > It's telling Apple to stop even thinking about hardware and to try to become Microsoft circa 1997. Ironic that Microsoft is now trying to become like Apple circa 2014. Then there is Google who has commoditized software in favor of services.

mootothemax 12y ago

"1. Admit it. You're out of the hardware game. Outsource your hardware production, or scrap it entirely, to compete more directly with Microsoft without the liability of manufacturing boxes." Good thing they didn't 'admit it'. Isn't this essentially what they've done with Foxconn and the other China-based producers they work with?

steven2012 12y ago
No. What they meant is to be a software-only company, ie. compete with MSFT without the liability of hardware.
- jiggy2011 12y ago
  But plenty of the other suggestions are about building hardware.
  - Eric_WVGG 12y ago
    They're competing ideas from different industry-folk. There's a ton of contradiction in the article, and that was kind of the point.
- mootothemax 12y ago
  No. What they meant is to be a software-only company, ie. compete with MSFT without the liability of hardware Disagree. Apple had half-tried and experimented doing this with the "official" clones programme, e.g. Power computing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_clone#Official_Macintosh_clone_program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_clone#Official_Macint... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Computing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Computing
  - mwfunk 12y ago
    Right, they half-tried it. This item is telling them to go all in on it.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

They did outsource their hardware production...like mostly everyone else in the industry did.

mwfunk 12y ago
You're talking about components and assembly, but that's not what's being suggested here. This was from a time period where there was almost universal consensus that Microsoft's horizontal business model (sell the OS and let other companies create hardware to run it on) was thought to have utterly and completely demolished Apple's vertical business model (create and sell both the hardware and the software that runs on it) for all time. The narrative was that Microsoft had beaten Apple in large part because the horizontal model was always going to beat the vertical model. In hindsight, it obviously isn't that simple- there's room for both models in the industry, and each has its own set of risks, rewards, strengths, and weaknesses, all of which are constantly changing as the industry evolves. But yeah, that particular item isn't telling Apple to outsource assembly and components, it's telling Apple to stop even thinking about hardware and to try to become Microsoft circa 1997.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  > It's telling Apple to stop even thinking about hardware and to try to become Microsoft circa 1997. Ironic that Microsoft is now trying to become like Apple circa 2014. Then there is Google who has commoditized software in favor of services.