Rodney O. Lain - 2001.06.13
Fundamental change is overdue. As individuals and organizations
everywhere scramble to take advantage of the Web, the Internet, and
a myriad of new gadgets, they want to know what they should do. The
media, vendors, and pundits respond with advice, trends,
possibilities and opinions in the thousands. Yet the overwhelming
outcome of this frenzy is a feeling of profound confusion by
ordinary users and specialists alike.
- Michael Dertouzos, The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centered
Computers and What They Can Do for Us
Regardless of Apple's public comments on the topic, its road to
market share growth may not be paved with bricks from the
enterprise sector, but there's at least a smidgen of the brick
comprising the asphalt mixture.
The current message coming from Cupertino is that its growing
line of Apple Stores is the main effort to increase the number of
Mac users. I applaud this goal and am confident that it will bear
out to be a smart move. The armchair quarterback in me, however,
can't help but to think out loud about my wishful plans for the
company.
One of the best ways in which Apple can position itself into a
better position of public perception is to create a full(er) line
of software and hardware that, when viewed in toto, will present
Apple as the "Sony of the computer industry," as Steve Jobs has
alluded to on occasion.
Now, there's two main ways to do this:
- Apple can continue birthing great products from its Cupertino
House of Ideas
- Apple can acquire some of the great products that are currently
on the market, so that the company can complement Apple's current
product offering in instances where creating its own, similar
product would reinventing the proverbial wheel.
Number Two is a strategy that is relatively new for Apple.
Remember, Apple was infamous for subscribing to the "not made here"
philosophy, in which the company only incorporated proprietary
technologies. Nowadays, Apple's success is owed to some
technologies that the company acquired: iDVD, iTunes, Final Cut
Pro, to name a few.
This is nothing new. Microsoft did the same thing with Internet
Explorer; Intel did the same thing with USB.
I'm sure that Apple has its sights set on other acquisitions;
the most commonly known one is Mr. Jobs' off-the-cuff comment that
Apple approached Palm, Inc., with the intent to buy them out.
There are a multitude of products on the market, many that are
doing quite well, that Apple could use in its software and hardware
arsenal. I just want to mention a few to give you an idea of the
limitless potential Apple has in acquiring a portion of the brain
trust in the Mac and Unix communities:
- Xenon Intersystem's Xtools, a Mac OS&
- ;X
implementation of MIT's X Window System. Xtools will prove to be
one of the most important OS&
- ;X apps for the scientific and
education communities. Hell, Apple should just buy Xenon
outright.
- Handspring. Since Apple's intention to buy out Palm is
dead, as far as we know, Handspring could be a better choice, since
the Palm's creators head this upstart handheld maker. (My choice
would be for Apple to buy out Palm, so that Apple could get its
mitts on the Palm OS, in addition to the PDA hardware).
- Microsoft. I just wanted to mention that one for fun.
Hey, you never know how things can work out. :-)
- Fill in the blank with your favorite shareware app. I
could spend all day talking about this one. After all, there are
features of the "Classic" Mac OS that started off as shareware. The
one I'd nominate for inclusion in the Mac OS&
- ;X would be
BrickHouse, a freeware app that allows mere mortals to configure
the firewall built into OS&
- ;X.
- AMD. At least purchase a stake in the company. I know
that I'd want to hedge my bets against Motorola's lackadaisical
work on the PowerPC line. Buying a stake in a competitor would at
least get their attention.
I'm sure that Apple is in constant review of up-and-coming
products, as well as showing interest in the companies that make
them. And I'm sure that you can add to the list.
The idea is to explore the possibilities that lie ahead for the
Mac universe and show that, through acquisition, Apple can improve
the OS, the hardware line, the market share. There are numerous
current and emerging technologies that could make the Mac a
formidable computing platform. Couple this with Apple's
cutting-edge industrial design and product innovation, and Apple
can one day be not only a formidable platform, but the preeminent
manufacturer of consumer appliances in the Western world.
Further Reading
