The official Apple line for years, and still used, is that Apple started as a hardware company, and is still a hardware company. They would rather use OS-X to sell hardware than vice-versa. And for now, it certainly looks like it's working for them. Take Michael Dell's famous quote from a few years ago when someone asked what he would do as CEO of Apple, which was to dissolve the company and give all the money back to the shareholders. Today, Apple's market capitalization has sky-rocketed past Dell's, which has remained pretty well base-lined. They are making money hand over fist, which is what ultimately matters, as opposed to market share.
I tend to agree with you though, in that if they were to release OS-X at $129 for both MAC and PC platforms, they would make a huge jump in market share. They have had a huge (by Apple market share standards) halo effect from the popularity of the iPod, which I think would be enough to get a lot of PC users who are frustrated with the many varieties, cost, and general blah-ness of Vista to jump on OS-X. And Jobs has made many jabs at Microsoft in talking about the "ultimate" version of Leopard is the only version available, etc.
And yes, Mac users tend to enjoy the niche label, etc. In fact, when passing cars with Apple stickers on them now, my coworker often scoffs, "iPod owner," knowing that there aren't really that many of us Mac users out there.
Regarding installing OS-X on PCs, there was a hacker competition a while back that was able to do it.... but it was a very rough install. I think the major issue might have been drivers, etc. On the other side, bootcamp is a dual boot native deal. The other options involve emulation of some sort, though the names aren't coming to mind quickly.
Something else as food for thought... as software goes to web-based versions (Adobe is supposed to be releasing a web-based photoshop for pete's sake), imagine the what Apple is / could be learning with the iPhone. Up until now, all 3rd party solutions had to be web-based. Essentially, the iPhone could be seen as a prototype model for the future of computing. Of course, they announced today that it would be opened up to 3rd party programmers in Feb. So we'll be seeing apps that aren't web-based pretty soon.
Maybe a good analogy would be exclusive games. Say Xbox has Halo and Playstation has Gran Turismo. There's no reason why they can't make Halo for the Playstation. And I hate to buy new hardware just to play a game. And while I may think that expanding the market for Halo to Playstation would be a good idea... they don't care about selling Halo. They want to sell the Xbox.
Since boot camp runs Windows native on Mac hardware I'm sure the opposite situation is possible. It wouldn't seem all that impossible to get the drivers all lined up. But unless Apple officially did it, it would never be a perfect solution.
It's interesting that Apple considers itself hardware. It makes sense since their hot products are iPods and iPhones. I've always seen Apple as primarily a user interface innovator that sometimes accomplishes that with hardware.
I can imagine that lots of people would buy OS X for their PC. But the biggest jump would come from new computers I bet. People that weren't in the market for a $1000 Mac but are more than happy to buy a $700 Dell and check the "OS X" option on it. Or maybe they could label it "OS X: from the makers of iPod and iPhone!" to make sure people made the connection. Considering the bad press around Vista right now... who wouldn't choose OS X on their Dell?
I definitely agree that most apps will shift towards the web. Mobile devices will become more and more common, and there will be less sitting around running bloated software and more lightweight online stuff. I mean, five years ago webmail was pretty trashy, and now Gmail is so good that I don't bother using a standalone email client. Five years from now who even knows, tech moves too fast. And I'm sure Apple will be there, in their little niche :)
I tend to agree with you though, in that if they were to release OS-X at $129 for both MAC and PC platforms, they would make a huge jump in market share. They have had a huge (by Apple market share standards) halo effect from the popularity of the iPod, which I think would be enough to get a lot of PC users who are frustrated with the many varieties, cost, and general blah-ness of Vista to jump on OS-X. And Jobs has made many jabs at Microsoft in talking about the "ultimate" version of Leopard is the only version available, etc.
And yes, Mac users tend to enjoy the niche label, etc. In fact, when passing cars with Apple stickers on them now, my coworker often scoffs, "iPod owner," knowing that there aren't really that many of us Mac users out there.
Regarding installing OS-X on PCs, there was a hacker competition a while back that was able to do it.... but it was a very rough install. I think the major issue might have been drivers, etc. On the other side, bootcamp is a dual boot native deal. The other options involve emulation of some sort, though the names aren't coming to mind quickly.
Something else as food for thought... as software goes to web-based versions (Adobe is supposed to be releasing a web-based photoshop for pete's sake), imagine the what Apple is / could be learning with the iPhone. Up until now, all 3rd party solutions had to be web-based. Essentially, the iPhone could be seen as a prototype model for the future of computing. Of course, they announced today that it would be opened up to 3rd party programmers in Feb. So we'll be seeing apps that aren't web-based pretty soon.
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Since boot camp runs Windows native on Mac hardware I'm sure the opposite situation is possible. It wouldn't seem all that impossible to get the drivers all lined up. But unless Apple officially did it, it would never be a perfect solution.
It's interesting that Apple considers itself hardware. It makes sense since their hot products are iPods and iPhones. I've always seen Apple as primarily a user interface innovator that sometimes accomplishes that with hardware.
I can imagine that lots of people would buy OS X for their PC. But the biggest jump would come from new computers I bet. People that weren't in the market for a $1000 Mac but are more than happy to buy a $700 Dell and check the "OS X" option on it. Or maybe they could label it "OS X: from the makers of iPod and iPhone!" to make sure people made the connection. Considering the bad press around Vista right now... who wouldn't choose OS X on their Dell?
I definitely agree that most apps will shift towards the web. Mobile devices will become more and more common, and there will be less sitting around running bloated software and more lightweight online stuff. I mean, five years ago webmail was pretty trashy, and now Gmail is so good that I don't bother using a standalone email client. Five years from now who even knows, tech moves too fast. And I'm sure Apple will be there, in their little niche :)
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