Rodney O. Lain - 2001.01.30
I didn't want to hurt the man. I thought he was a
very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I though so right up to the
moment I cut his throat.
- Murderer Perry Smith, quoted by
Truman Capote in In Cold Blood
I overheard an interesting conversation this weekend.
While browsing a Minneapolis computer store, I passed two young
men carrying on a mildly heated exchange about Apple Computer. The
first guy was one of the store's salespeople; the other was a
dyed-in-the-wool Mac user. You can guess which side of the
discussion was laden with more emotion.
Salesperson: "Apple does have the best computer designs on the
market."
Mac user: "Are you crazy? Apple is doing great! They aren't
caught up in that Megahertz mentality that has gripped the rest of
the PC market. Apple is all about making great computers. Great
looking computers."
As they talked over these points, I eased towards them. After
talking for a while, the salesperson noticed me listening to them
and asked me to thrown in my two cents. So I did.
"Don't get me wrong; I'm a big Mac user, too," I said, "but I
think that Apple should give more concern to that 'Megahertz
mentality' to which you alluded. After all, Apple has cared about
Megahertz in the past - when it benefited them. Remember the
'Snails' commercial?"
After saying my piece, I left the Mac user standing there,
wondering about what I'd just said.
You see, Apple does a marvelous job of creating lust-inducing
computers, but it is falling short in the area where the company
has very little control - PowerPC production.
That is Motorola's territory. You know, the guys who are
probably solely responsible for Apple's repeated failure to deliver
computers to market within promised time frames. By now, we've all
gotten used to the fact that Apple delivers the goods; it's just
that Apple is always tardy making deliveries - like the U.S. Post
Office.
That is the supreme insult.
Conventional wisdom says that Motorola can't produce G4
processors in high enough quantities to meet demand (or Motorola
still hasn't gotten over getting "Steved" during the short-lived
Mac-clone period). Meanwhile, Intel and AMD are cranking out their
respective computer chips like the proverbial pancakes.
There is a simple solution to Apple's dilemma: advertise.
Apple needs to market and advertise its line of computers as
never before. The "Think Different" campaign is a 
good rallying
cry, but the next phase (which I argue hasn't even begun yet)
should have commenced long ago. To date, there have been little or
no advertisements spelling out why and how a Macintosh is better
than PC alternatives. Everything has been subjective at best.
(Steve's kids are cute, but not that cute.)
I say this, "knowing" that Apple has a good reason for not
producing more "hard-hitting" ads and marketing campaigns: OS X
hasn't shipped yet. Apple has slowly metamorphosed its whole
product line. Shipping computers with OS X preinstalled is the last
piece in the company's comeback puzzle.
Mark my words. When Apple computers are shipping with OS X
preinstalled, expect an advertising blitz like none the company has
done before.
It makes all the sense in the world. The Macintosh line still
has a "legacy" operating system that isn't attractive to the
enterprise sector. More specifically, the Macintosh still doesn't
have a OS around which to market the hardware.
Mark my words. That is why Apple hasn't proactively sought to
grow market share. Mark my words. OS X is the fulcrum, the
lynchpin, the final piece of the puzzle.
This summer is when Apple begins advertising in earnest.
Subsequently, market share will grow. Only then will Motorola have
stronger dollar-and-sense incentive to put more manpower behind
PowerPC production and development.
Lord knows Apple needs it.
Until Apple has OS X equipped computers to market with
smart-and-edgy advertising (sorry, Jeff Goldblum, but you don't
move me), Motorola will continue to give less than a damn about the
Mac market and whether or not the PowerPC fares well against the
Intels and AMDs of the world.
