6 ms·
Apple declares war on the entire PC industry
- Robin_Message 17y agoI wonder if Apple will try and ruin Microsoft's parade tomorrow by announcing the Tablet?
- jacquesm 17y agoThere have been rumours pinning the releasedate of the tablet to somewhere in the fall of 2009: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/12/rumor-large-for/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/12/rumor-large-for/ So it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they delayed that for a couple of days just to be able to steal microsofts thunder. The general reception of the latest batch of 'mac stuff' was pretty underwhelmed, if they top it off with a tablet then that will turn around to endless press coverage. Competition is good.
- smiler 17y agoI doubt they would announce the tablet without a special press event
- axod 17y agoDon't believe the tablet hype. The only people who want such a thing are the few people blogging about it all the time. (And of course hype is good for getting readers/attention/subscribers etc) (Or trying to justify their own tablet - crunchpad? "Best product of 2009"?!?? http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4332415.html http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4332415.h...) The usefulness of a 'too big for your pocket, half a laptop that you have to hold' device are minimal. Maybe they'll surprise everyone and come out with a tablet, but I really doubt it.
- junklight 17y agoI agree - remember the "iphone nano": much talked about, didn't even make sense as a product and totally non-existant. If it is true - the noises that do kind of make sense - like Apple being in talks with publishers make me wonder if they are going to compete with the Kindle rather than the netbook.
- me325r4534534 17y agoI'm not disagreeing, but just remember - I heard tons of comments like this about the "iPhone" years before it was actually released. So there very well may be a "iTab" on its way.
- Tichy 17y agoApple was almost forced to create the iPhone, though: much of it's access came from the iPod, but phones were getting better and better at playing music, too.
- jacquesm 17y agoMac == PC (Personal Computer). I think the author meant to say on Microsoft.
- adriand 17y agoLanguage changes over time. You are technically correct but no one is confused by the author's terminology, because people clearly understand what he means. And since people clearly understand what he means, there is no reason for him to change what he says or writes, because by definition he is using language correctly: he is communicating.
- jacquesm 17y agoWell, maybe you do. But I was wondering where apple would get their harddrives, screens, processors and other bits and pieces if they declare war on the entire PC industry. The only thing that differentiates a 'mac' from a 'microsoft windows computer' is the software, and the design.
- habibur 17y agoThese terms come from 80s and 90s when PC meant Intel/Windows and Mac was Mac. I had not seen this usage for some long time now. No wonder the newer generation who missed the PC/Mac war will find it very confusing.
- jacquesm 17y agoThose terms come from the 70's when PC meant 6502, 6800, 6809, Z80 or other 8 (and later 16) bit small computer which was meant for a single user instead of the time sharing minis and mainframes. No wonder newer generations who missed the transition from minis and mainframes to personal computers find it very confusing. Your honour, I present exhibit 1: http://codytaylor.org/images/apple/apple-computers-personal-computer-1979.jpg http://codytaylor.org/images/apple/apple-computers-personal-...
- rdrimmie 17y ago
- olliesaunders 17y agoWhat is the article even talking about? Netbooks are destroying things? Netbooks are the best thing to happen for ages.
- mikedouglas 17y agoFrom the article: [Netbooks] are cannibalizing Windows PC sales at an alarming rate. By comparison, laptops commanded higher margins and average selling prices when their popularity started to increase. PC manufacturers -- and even Microsoft -- benefited from notebooks' reversing the trend of falling computer ASPs; for a time. By comparison, netbooks are a plague, because they dramatically lower ASPs and margins and pull away sales from real laptops.
- iuybuyvvyu 17y agoDoes this sound an awful lot like the pleadings of car companies building SUVs when oil hit $150 and those sneaky foreigners started importing subcompacts ?
- junklight 17y agoThey are "a plague" for hardware manufacturers. For the ordinary user - a great many of who only really use their computers to read email, access facebook and watch youtube clips - I suspect they are ideal.
- netsp 17y agoThey seem to agree
- access_denied 17y agoI am an oldtime-A-fanboi. Netbooks are the first event that let me consider buying a PeeCee since when I decided to do A-miga instead of 386. And sooner or later I probably get one.
- JulianMorrison 17y agoTranslation: "those consumers! We used to force them to accept a bundle of all the unnecessary extra features of a laptop with their netbook-level compute needs. Now the sneaky bastards are un-bundling it and ruining our sweet scam! The cads!"
- Tichy 17y agoWhy are netbooks only the problem of the PC industry? Surely they "cannibalize" Mac sales just as they cannibalize PC sales. Except for the people who would buy Macs no matter what.
- idlewords 17y agoApple sells a high-end product; anyone who might be tempted away by a netbook would likely have already been tempted away by a lower-cost PC. It's the same reason that inexpensive Japanese cars don't cannibalize BMW sales.
- Tichy 17y agoStill, it seems weird to put those into different categories. There could be a PC maker creating expensive PCs that don't compete with netbooks. In fact, there probably are (for example creating high end PCs for architecture and film editing). That PC maker would not be cannibalized by netbook sales. Maybe if it is Microsoft vs Apple they are talking, but MS also sells stuff for netbooks. Also, if there were no netbooks and no PCs, there probably would be more Apple sales. So Apple loses sales to PCs and therefore also to netbooks.
- halostatue 17y agoAlso explaining why the Japanese car makers have built more expensive product; the two markets overlap but aren't the same.
- JeremyChase 17y agoJapanese cars absolutely eat into BMW's sales, or have you not noticed the army of hybrids gliding around?
- iuybuyvvyu 17y agoOf course if you are really smart you build the same car and sell it as an Audi (to mac owners), VW (to laptop buyers), a Skoda (to desktop buyers) and a Seat (to netbook buyers). Whereas if you are GM you build 10 different cars with different badges from different parts that all compete with each other in the same market.
- heresyforme 17y agoMS is missing a huge opportunity. While Apple may be reaching the tech savvy and elite, MS needs to market to the "everyday average normal guy". Look at the Chevy "Like a friggin' rock" commercials. Is that guy going to buy some namby-pamby macbook if there's a real man's alternative somewhere? Instead of two nerds making passive-aggressive beta-male comments to each other in the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials; imagine replacing the nerd with a Brett Farve type of guy. Not only is he an alpha male, but he's intelligent enough to be successful.
- halostatue 17y agoApple may have already stepped up to that with the "Call me when you're ready to compromise" ad starring Patrick Warburton.
- heresyforme 17y agoAgreed. Patrick Warburton, though manly looking, isn't quite the alpha male that a football star type represents. Heck, Warburton was the Tick; a live action comedy character based on a cartoon character for children and Puddy on Seinfeld. Not exactly the guy known for playing an alpha male. Apple is for betas, plain and simple. MS is missing an opportunity to reach the alphas.
- thwarted 17y agoBrock Sampson, voiced by Patrick Warburton, stabbed Hilter to death in the season opener of The Venture Bros. If that's not alpha male, I don't know what is. But you're, ahem, probably right, I bet he is totally over compensating by voicing that role.
- gaius 17y agoMicrosoft quite happily sell X-boxes by the tonne to football-playing beer-chugging mouth-breathing fratboys, if that's your definition of "alpha male".
- gaius 17y agoeveryday average normal guy Said guy's too busy listening to his iPod ;-) Seriously, tho', Apple has simply chosen not to compete in many of the markets MS sells into. There's no Mac for gamers, for example, Apple simply aren't interested. They aren't interested in selling into corporate desktops either. There's no technical reason Apple couldn't flog 20,000 desktops to Boeing to use as Unix workstations, for example. That's the secret, really. You don't have to be tech savvy or elite to use a Mac. You just have to be in a sector that Apple is interested in. A non-technical entry-level graphic designer is going to be using a Mac 'cos it's the right tool for the job, as is a hardcore geek who wants a decent Unix laptop.