For years the Mac was a highly specialized PC, ignored by most, but loved by certain industry aficionados. But no matter how dearly adored it was for its stability, security, and usefulness in the layout and design professions, it didn’t have the appeal that came with heavy hitter Microsoft and Windows OS.
It became a situation where if you didn’t absolutely need a Mac, you didn’t buy a Mac. It wasn’t about quality then, it was about the span of use. Bill Gates was able to corner some 90% of the worldwide PC market. If you wanted to do business, you wanted to do Windows. All Mac had to offer the market were really cool CPU and monitor designs, and usually a painful price.
Sorry, Apple lovers, but it’s the truth.
So now Steve Jobs and Apple shock the computing world by dumping IBM and making the can’t-beat’em-join’em switch to Intel. It seems like a smart move as IBM seems to have been unable to deliver a G5 chip that runs cool enough for the promised G5 notebook. Intel could deliver that in a less power-consuming package.
It seems like an isolated enough incident, a shrewd business decision to help make a better product. But you have to think back to Apple sweating so much, seething about the success of Microsoft, feeling TKO’d in the red corner, with barely a market share of landed punches in the third round.
And then, a light bulb went off. There are other markets and other ways of commanding them. The next move was iPod and iTunes. And it was a doozy of a punch. So much so that those already in those markets were on their heels trying to adjust.
Apple’s iPod music server and iTunes music store have become so popular and easy to use, that any moron could build up his music fix, no matter how eclectic. While this is easy to accomplish with the iPod and with the Macintosh operating system, the roadblock presents itself when trying to transfer to other types of home theater systems.
For example, iTunes isn’t very compatible with touch screen remotes, such as Crestron, which are becoming more and more the norm. This is because iTunes can’t be run with RS232.
With the new chipset provided by Intel, Mac suddenly has a new versatility. It makes dual-boots possible, two operating systems on the same machine, and it opens up a possible new market-the home entertainment market. Microsoft hasn’t been quiet about its Home Theater PC software designed to ride the waves of HDTV and other audio-visual components.
An Intel chipset in a Macintosh computer allows for the control of more than one market at once. Macintosh loyalists aren’t going anywhere. Microsoft users may be easily wooed by a system that can easily run both.
Home theater enthusiasts may have a one-stop system in the future that can do Windows, OS X, iTunes, and everything else they want from a home theater. I wouldn’t find it a bit surprising if Apple decides to enter the game console market next time around to add a final uppercut.
So while it seemed like a sensible technical move on Apple’s part, it may just be the precursor to a Cinderella comeback.
