Rhet, have you considered the possibility of Apple selling PCs that have Windows and Carbon/Diamond loaded up?
Yes, I assumed so. It would make sense to offer it as an option, since presumably people buying Intel instead of PowerPC would do so because of being able to run Windows as well. I would imagine that some people might even choose to buy an Apple PC solely to run Windows, because of better industrial design (iMacs, PowerBooks), the Apple brand name, etc. So Apple would effectively become a PC maker as well, and its PE would adjust accordingly.
NeXT, of course, sold Openstep, a cross-platform OS that could run on Intel. But there were always problems with non-standard PCs, and not having the right device drivers to run peripherals. Apple would obviously want MacOSX/Intel to run on the big-name vendors like Dell, Compaq, etc., but it would always be preferable to buy an Apple PC, since that would have the best likelihood of ongoing support.
In other news, I'm worried about this Q's results, with the PowerBook problems. Can Apple post a profit this quarter even if their PowerBook numbers are bad?
rhet0ric |
