I don't think the cloning issue is a major one anymore. For one thing, most Apple machines run Windows emulation pretty nicely.
For another, the internet doesn't care what OS you use. As such, the iMac is a wonderful choice. And they'll get cheaper, too.
AMD isn't coming out with a sub-$500 machine of any substance soon...they need to repair their margins in order to show growth. Chances are, if they can do it, they'll be charging a decent margin just to repair their image.
AAPL is likely to do a deal with someone soon. My guess is SGI. They're not doing so well, it'll give AAPL a bigger foothold in an area where they still have problems (enterprise solutions), and it helps them to keep the Wintel monopoly at bay by getting deeper into their realm. SGI is likely to start pumping out cheap high-end machines soon, from what I've heard. All in all, a nice fit. |
