rhetOric,
Your point "the cost of opening a new channel, or a new layer of a channel, for MacOS devices, doesn't increase the cost of OS development." is a important one, though I would qualify the statement with assuming Apple does not try to reinvent too much an OS for simpler information appliances.
Wintel boxmakers pay Microsoft a per unit manufactured OS tax. Ironically, while it gives them a COGS predictability, it also gives then no flexibility. Were there an alternatively desirable OS at a lower price, instead of making it available to consumers it is ignored as it would only add to the tax on production. It is for that reason that IBM's OS2 was not widely received and is not considered a threat to Windows xx. It is also the greatest reason Apple has not developed and pursued the past port of the Mac OS to Intel for subsequent licensing.
Further, as you eloquently point out, since Apples OS costs are part development expense and part maintenance expense, there is no [per unit shipped] cost other than installation, media and manuals. Even that is minimal when compared to Windows xx.
Apple has the potential to develop and market a sub $1000 consumer information appliance with a generous profit margin that is differentiated from its PPC product line. Apple still has the engineering talent and tools to design VLSI intensive boards that can be stamped out inexpensively. Providing support connections to optional storage devices and using hi-res and the new digital TVs keeps the entry cost low for consumers. Tying the product to the coming digital changes in the TV industry, with the proper timing opens the doors of possibility for Apple to enter the new millennium with lucrative links to the worlds most popular passive time waster.
While there will be some OS development cost incurred in that move, the costs are more in the nature of an investment in ownership of OS technology rather than an expense for the rental of OS technology. That difference will pay dividends absent the Wintel boxmakers in all probability.
Just musing over the changing of the seasons.
Happy AAPL blossom Spring!
HerbVic |
