News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

June 1, 2007

hardware

Let Apple be Apple

Posted Jun. 1, ’07, 9:45 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Hardware

Let Apple Be AppleI had hoped—hoped against hope—that perhaps we had reached the end of those ridiculous missives insisting that Apple should switch to being a software-only company, but Apple Matters’s Hadley Stern has to go and prove me wrong by drumming up “Memo to Steve Jobs: 7 Reasons to Decouple OS X from Apple Hardware Now.”

As much as I love Steve Jobs’s new hobby of writing open letters, it does encourage these silly direct-to-Steve appeals. As if El Jobso would possibly spend his time reading what random people out on the Interweb are saying—look, he’s far too busy watching YouTube on his Apple TV for that.

Let me take this opportunity to reply to Mr. Stern on a point-by-point basis. Follow the bouncing ball.

The storied history of Apple and Microsoft is a fascinating one, as you know, Steve. What has happened in essence is two business models, or approaches as to how to make money and how to create the greatest experience in the marketplace. With Microsoft’s well over 90 percent lockdown on the usage of GUI operating systems I think you would agree that they have won. And I think you would also agree that Apple’s operating system is a superior user experience, albeit one that gets more and more obfuscated as time goes on, and Microsoft catches up.
I dispute this idea that Microsoft has “won.” Marketshare is not, to my mind, a zero sum game. Apple has not only survived, but flourished in the last ten years, despite Microsoft’s apparent stranglehold on the market. If Apple was bankrupt and abandoned, then I’d say that Microsoft had won, but with Apple’s marketshare stable—and growing—that seems a fallacy to me.
Steve, your switch to the Intel processor was a ballsy one. Many of the Mac faithful were shocked after spending years ingesting, and regurgitating, the now-proven myth that the Power PC platform was a better one than the Intel one (remember the snails?). But what I am suggesting is a far ballsier move, one that is somewhat an inversion, or reverse of the Apple business model, but one, I believe, that will take Apple to new heights, in stock price and marketshare.
Logical conundrums of the phrase “now-proven myth” aside, while I agree that in theory, PowerPC’s RISC architecture is superior to Intel’s CISC approach, it didn’t deliver in the areas that Apple wanted: namely, power consumption. There was never going to be a PowerBook G5—do you remember the insane water-cooling technology that had to go into the high-end PowerMac G5s? As far as Apple’s stock price and marketshare, both of those are doing fine at the moment, with Apple’s shares trading at an all time high, and its marketshare on the grow. If it ain’t broke…
But Macs now are very similar to PCs. Take a Mac and put it next to a Dell and, the horrific gap in industrial design aside, they share the same processor, the same drive hardware, the same networking, USB 2.0. The same wireless protocols (airport and bluetooth). In fact, they are remarkably similar machines.
Take a Mercedes and put it next to a Yugo and you’ll find they both have four wheels, a steering wheel, doors, and seats. The devil’s in the details.
This similarity has led to many Windows users buying Macs, knowing that they can not only experience the superior OS X experience, but that they can also run Windows machines without virtualization should they need to.

All this really leaves me scratching my head. Why does Apple continue to require an Apple piece of hardware to run OS X? It doesn’t make any sense! So, after that somewhat verbose introduction, Steve, I give you the 10 reasons why you must decouple OS X from Apple hardware now.

If Apple hardware can already run Windows, what’s the advantage to Apple to letting Windows hardware run OS X? You can already get the best of both worlds. As to why Apple makes people buy Apple hardware, that’s simple: profit margins are way higher. Not to mention Steve’s recent fondness for quoting Alan Kay, “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.”

Oh, and you only came up with 7 reasons, not 10—ran out of steam, huh?

1. There has never been a better time
Steve, I love your new commercials. The ones smashing Vista are particularly brilliant. Vista sucks. You know it, and we do too. What is happening right now is that Microsoft is admitting that XP is outdated, and their answer, Vista, is a failure. You are wise to pick up on this and to start pointing OS X out to consumers. But the time to really strike is now. And striking by expecting people who are comfortable going to Best Buy or buying directly from Dell requires a change in strategy.
I don’t disagree with this being a great time for Apple. But with Apple Stores being among the most profitable retail storesper square foot—outstripping Best Buy by a rate of 4-to-1—how necessary is this? Besides, Apple’s already started making its wares available through some Best Buys. The problem there has long been the lack of interested/knowledgable sales people, not the availability.
2. Dell wants you
Let’s face it. Dell is a force to be reckoned with. Yes, their Dude, get a Dell campaign was stupid. Yes, the majority of their hardware is ugly and the antithesis of everything that is brilliant about Ives. But they sure know how to sell a boatload of hardware. Dell was locked into Windows, but now they sell Linux machines! Don’t view Dell as ugly machines. View Dell as incredible channels for OS X. Look at it this way. You are syndicating the Apple experience to other platforms. When HBO releases an incredible series (or maybe I should use a favorite of yours, The Office) they don’t demand that it only be consumed on a certain make of television! Same with OS X. Let Dell sell it and they will sell tons.
This is the same Dell who is laying off 10% of their workforce, while Apple’s market cap is hitting $100 billion, run by a man who once thought that Apple should be shut down and the money given back to the shareholders? I don’t think we need that kind of help, thanks.
3. Hardware doesn’t really matter, or most people don’t get good design
I already covered above how the difference between Apple and PC hardware is minimal, and probably nonexistent. The other thing you have to understand, Steve, is that the vast majority of people don’t get good design. After all, they use Windows, drive Asstecs, and do other unsavory things. Now, you could say that Apple is like Porsche, or BMW, as some others have said, and is happy with low marketshare. But I can’t believe you think this way and are stubborn enough to not try to change the world. Indeed, syndicating OS X to other manufacturers could really bring good design to the masses. After all, people spend all day staring at their screen, and not the boxes that run their screens. Even so, the vast majority of computer users won’t care that they are using a better looking operating system than Windows. But, if it is offered at Dell, and it has better security and features, they will buy it. So sell it.
I don’t think there’s a direct relationship between marketshare and “changing the world.” Microsoft, after all, has your touted 90% marketshare; Apple’s far smaller and yet it and Steve Jobs have changed the world many times over already. And as far as people not caring much about design, I’ll dispute that and suggest that the iPod’s tremendous success has a lot to do with that very factor. We’re talking about a player that lacks the bells and whistles of many of its competitors—but what it does right is design.
4. You will make much more money
There, got your attention, didn’t I?
I don’t think appealing to sheer greed is traditionally the way to convince a Buddhist, do you?
Some out there go on and on about how Apple is a hardware company and would never license OS X because you would lose money. Funny, didn’t work out for Microsoft that way and the last time I checked Bill has a lot more money in the bank than you.
Yes, it didn’t work for Microsoft that way—but that was twenty-five years ago. The world’s a different place today—you may have noticed that a few things have changed here and there. As for Bill Gates having more money than Steve Jobs, I point you towards this comment from Steve himself this week, vis-a-vis Bill’s charity works: “I think the world is a better place for him not working to be the richest guy in the cemetery.” The argument that he should change his beliefs just so he can wrestle with Gates for title of the richest man in the world, is not only pathetic but belies an utterly childish view of the world.
Plus, I’m not suggesting you stop making Macs. Indeed, because you will be the maker of both the operating system and hardware you will still be uniquely positioned to create hardware and software experiences that will rock our world. And many computer users, including me, will see that difference and continue buying Macs. But for those Dell and HP users out there who want to save a buck, or don’t care about Apple’s design, they will still be putting money in your pocket instead of Bill’s. The marketplace has already proven that Apple’s marketshare will always be a minority, and while you have made great strides recently let’s be honest. They are in the low percentages (and that is at the high end) and more often in the decimals of percentages. That is no way to grow.
Like I said above, I don’t think it matters if Apple’s marketshare will always be a minority; the unique organisms that live in the deep reaches of volcanic ocean vents probably don’t aspire to be the dominant life form on the planet, but it doesn’t make them any less worthwhile. You can be the best at what you do without having to be the biggest bully on the block.
5. The world is leaving you behind or China
To the vast majority of the world a computer is a PC running Windows. This is a shame. Sure there are niches overseas but they are all in developed countries. Go to India, which is going through a huge economic transformation, and you won’t see Macs. Go to China? Forget it. Same with Africa. Again, if OS X could run on any hardware, including the cheap stuff, people who would otherwise never be exposed to Apple would use it.
Fair points, and it is a shame that Microsoft still rules the developing world. I just don’t think Apple wants to take on this market, in the same way that these people don’t need to be inundated with Mercedes and BMWs. This, in fact, seems to me an ideal job for Linux.
6. Scale
Open up OS X and you don’t have to get into silly negotiations with people like Best Buy who, every six months it seems, are either selling Macs or aren’t. And when they are there is usually one or two out there that is largely ignored. But with OS X running on any hardware suddenly Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and any brick-and-mortars outlet is a channel for Apple. This is huge. Add Dell to the mix and it gets really big. This is scale, and by continuing to bundle things you cannot match this out in the marketplace.
Apple’s all about control. What you’re suggesting is nothing less than a fundamental change of the company’s identity. This is not about what’s under the hood; it’s about strategy, image, and what makes Apple Apple. It’s quality over quantity. Flooding the market with cheap machines that run OS X might very well get them more marketshare and more money, but it dilutes what it means to have a Mac, incurring the headaches of supporting the myriad different hardware configurations. And the annoyance of support (do you go to the hardware manufacturer or the software manufacturer?). And putting Apple Stores out of business.
7. It’s better for the end-user
Personally I care more about OS X than I do about the hardware it runs on. If I had to choose between running Windows on a Mac, and Mac on a PC, well, I’d choose the latter.
Fortunately, nobody is forcing you to make such an asinine choice.
Don’t get me wrong, I love your hardware. Love it so much that I have never owned a PC, and will never bring one into my home! But, what really matters to me is OS X.
I have loyalty to OS X only insofar as at its better than Windows and that it’s Apple’s OS of choice. If at WWDC they announced they were throwing out OS X for something new and markedly better, you can bet that I’d be first in line, without so much as a look back. The Mac to me is that strange, almost mystical, synergy that appears at the meshing of hardware and software—like that period of twilight that filmmakers call “magic hour.” It’s not something you can touch and feel, but you know it’s there. Sappy, maybe, but it’s an outlook I prefer to being concerned with how Apple can make the most money and sell the most units.

Apple’s far from dead, dying, or even beleaguered. The stock price is at an all time high; their market capitalization has hit record numbers; their the most exciting, innovative company on the block. Why would they want to throw that out to become another Microsoft? Let Microsoft be Microsoft. Let Apple be Apple.


13 Comments

Tony Di Giacomo said:

When Steve Jobs came back to Apple he cancelled all the clones. Apple from that point on was on an upward move. I'm sure Jobs never regreted his decision. All in all, a great move. You want OS X, buy a Mac. It's that simple. The whole thing about Macs being expensive and PC makers being cheaper is just a stupid arguement. Since I bought my 15'PB almost 5 years ago my brother who bought a Compact laptop has gone through three. Three. (He finally broke down and bought a MacBook.) The point I'm making is Macs last longer. Hell, I have a ten year old G3, that I use as a server. It still rocks.
At the end of the day, its not about being the richest guy on the block, its about making an impact.

June 1, 2007 10:29 AM
Parang Boi said:

AMEN!

June 1, 2007 10:59 AM
Dave said:

Well said! The meshing of software and hardware on a Mac is what makes them so reliable, and Ives' design is one of the first things that caught my eye and attracted me to the Mac/OSX platform in the first place. Let Apple be Apple indeed!

June 1, 2007 12:08 PM
Jack said:

As Steve has said, "you've always had to be a little different to use a Mac." The problem with people who write crap like this is they don't realize something: if Apple started catering to people who are not "different", and went for the mass market, then there would be a market for a company like Apple. So why should Apple become something else and let someone else become Apple? Apple is the best at what they do. And as a company, there goal is to maximize profits given the contraints of the market (econ 101), not to maximize market share. It seems to me they are serving their market well.

June 1, 2007 1:05 PM
Walt said:

Great article about an article. So many just don’t get the amount of headaches added to the equation when you inject the Mac platform with a myriad of OPH (Other People’s Hardware). That’s what allows for Apple to be such a solid performer. They don’t have to try to support 500 different motherboard makers, 200 different video card manufacturers. Only the ones they make or contract out to make. Life is so much easier that way, and mac users appreciate the stability and quality.

June 1, 2007 1:11 PM
John said:

It's the hardware and software being built as one that makes Macs so reliable and safe. Let Apple be Apple is right. Releasing OSX to the mass PC boxes would just start a spiraling downward trend of the OS because of all the different hardware configurations and poor quality that is not Apple. I only need one good reason to let Apple be Apple and that's reliability by NOT letting clones and or OSX be given to the masses.

June 1, 2007 1:24 PM
Erik said:

"If at WWDC they announced they were throwing out OS X for something new and markedly better, you can bet that I’d be first in line, without so much as a look back."

And one interesting point, is that they have already done exactly that once. Who is to say they can't do it again?

June 1, 2007 2:54 PM
Thomas said:

Isn't it obvious they're trying to up the clicks so they can make money?

June 1, 2007 5:22 PM
patrick said:

I could see Apple making OS X available on a PC. Now that Macs are competitive, feature for feature, Apple could break down and let the bottom feeders sell the $400 MacOS X-compatable computers. Apple would not have too much competition.

But what is the point of being the biggest OS in the world or even having 50 percent? 10 would be nice enough.

June 1, 2007 6:48 PM
Tom said:

Thank you for saving me the trouble of writing this up on my own blog. You've done it so well I don't have to.

Let Apple be Apple, indeed.

June 1, 2007 8:26 PM
Jan said:

Hey, Yugos are great cars :). What's wrong with them? You use them as long as they work, and when they break down you simply buy another one. :)

June 2, 2007 5:20 AM
KenC said:

I think Cringely proposed a somewhat similar idea back in January that Apple give away Tiger, when it releases Leopard for sale. That is, give away Tiger for the PC world. That is, free. The money has been spent already on developing Tiger. This would allow PC users to throw away XP or Vista and load Tiger. This would create a future market of Mac buyers.

Then, Dan Eran proposed something similar to Steve Jobs at the shareholders meeting just a month or so ago. He asked Steve about whether Apple would do something similar to MS with their $3 developing country plan, perhaps give Tiger away. Steve said he was intrigued by the idea. So, while I don't think it will happen, Steve didn't just rule it out of hand.

June 2, 2007 4:05 PM
dean said:

i would really like to like apple -- i'm new to apple (a year new). their systems, when they work, work great, but they fail for the strangest things. apples support SUCKS! with .mac "support", there is no one to talk with and if it isn't an easy fix, they don't seem to answer their email. i have one problem that is 3 months old and i can't get status.

when i buy software, you have to be careful to see if it will work on your version of the mac -- intel, verses old mac, and if it needs version 9 support. not even os/2 was this much of a pain.

i'd love to have a viable option for a computer other than win-tel, but apple needs to step up and support there computers

June 6, 2007 9:35 AM

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