“But that sigh was quickly followed by a raised eyebrow of curiosity as they noticed that Apple had dropped the Mac software category from its long-running Apple Design Awards,” Moren reports. “Instead, the awards will cover only iPhone and iPad applications available on the App Store.”
Moren reports, “While ADAs are handed out every year at WWDC, the list of categories change to take into account Apple’s latest technologies… But while iPhone and iPad apps are clearly the topic of the moment in 2010, it would also have been the first year for showing off apps that take advantage of features in the latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, which debuted last August.”
“The ADAs aren’t the only place that the Mac seems to have gotten short shrift,” Moren reports. “Apple’s dubbed WWDC 2010 ‘the center of the app universe’ and the list of sessions reference ‘how to harness the revolutionary technologies in iPhone OS.'”
Moren reports, “[However] Mac OS X isn’t wholly absent from the 2010 proceedings. There are several WWDC sessions that deal specifically with the Mac, such as ‘I/O Kit Device Drivers for Mac OS X,’ and ‘OpenGL for Mac OS X,’ and several of the other session descriptions put the Mac on even footing with the iPhone OS. And of course, since the Mac and iPhone operating systems share an underlying foundation, many of the sessions apply to both platforms.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Another Irish Dude” for the heads up.]
It’s about time! Those Macintosh computers will never sell anyway– too pricey. Why have a category for software for it?
;^)
What did I tell you all the other day. That Mac OS X is becoming the ugly child to whom its parents ignore. If it’s not mobile, Coupertino couldn’t care less.
I was flamed for making such a statement and now there is additional proof.
Sad.
Interviewer: ” What would you do if you were running Apple?”
Steve Jobs: ” I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth while looking for the next big thing.”
In case any of you were not into tech at the time, this quote is crica 1994 (give or take).
It won’t be long before apple discontinues the Mac. This was my worst fear when I first saw the iPad. Apple sold it as a “middle ground” device between iPhone and Macbook, but it’s very clear where Apple’s priorities lay. I bet that there won’t ever be a 10.7.
Sigh, I hope I’m wrong. I really do. The Mac was what made me an Apple fanboy to begin with. I feel like the iPad was Apple’s way of throwing in the towel and admitting defeat to MS, knowing that they will always have to rely on the likes of MS and Adobe for Mac support. It’ld be a very sad day when Apple is 100% about content consumption and no longer creation. I guess the iPhone/iPad/iPod prove there is just a lot more easy money to be made in consumption. *sigh*.
Who would have guessed 10 years ago that the company that encouraged us all to “Think Different” would end up being so consumption oriented.
Wow. I think people are jumping the gun a bit. The Mac, and Mac OS X, are not going anywhere. Sure, they’re playing up mobile because that’s the next space to win.
“Knife the Mac”?
Apple just wants people to focus on making great mobile apps now.
Comment from: TowerTone
“Knife the Mac”?
Good one.
so….what do you think people will use to BUILD the apps? iPads? Seriously?
Look at it this way, Apple is not ready to show off 10.7 as they pulled all engineers to work on iPhone 4.0. So for the time being, let’s focus on mobile computing as iPhone 4 (OS and device) will be available with iPad 4.0 being delivered in the fall.
Apple is still a relatively small company (compared to MS or HP) when you compare the number of employees (Apple 24k, MS 93k, HP 300k). You also MUST have a Mac to write software for the iDevices. We go through sort of thing every couple of years, Apple is not giving enough love to the desktop. Well, the desktop is shifting to mobile and they want to stay ahead of the pack. Do you think they would through away all of the creative users and let MS have them?
Put another way, what more can really be done with the desktop besides some groovy visuals or other minor enhancements? Also, 10.6 was rewritten just to be killed a year or two later? We are entering a new world where we no longer need to be tied to desk do work. There is still a lot of work to be done before the iPad can become a stand alone device, probably 2-5 years. Then things will get very interesting.
this, is, concerning.
Good one TT.
@ Jarrett
He was talking about what later became known as Mac Classic, which is now gone, not NeXT, er . . . OS X.
For anyone thinking that OS X is going away, well, there are only so many Dvorak’s, Enderle’s, and Rayburn’s in this world.
So Panic will have to wait until _next_ year to win for Transmit 4.
I think its “Mac the Knife”
And what the hell does this article have to do with politics?
I have said it before in a post, I think that 10.7 and mobile OS will be one in the same. (If not 10.7 then for sure 10.8.) I see apple moving toward a unified OS across all there devices/computers. As technology advances and Apple makes more of their own chips, I see a future where a single OS just make more sense. I will not believe that Apple would ever totally abandon desktop/laptop computing all together.
i’m surprised by this
actually Apple’s revenue numbers are predominantly due to their Mac sales – not iPhone and iPad
guess they are afraid of spreading their laser focus too thin
The Mac is the foundation upon which my continued association with Apple is based. Remove the Mac and a large part of my loyalty to Apple is free to go elsewhere. The iDevices are great, but they are peripheral. Ultimately they are gadgets in comparison to the workhorse Mac. I will never be Thelonious-iPad.
It’s time for the henny-penny the sky’s falling crowd to make nutty assumptions about the Mac’s future.
The Mac is here to stay.
…”He was talking about what later became known as Mac Classic, which is now gone, not NeXT, er . . . OS X.”
Actually, no. He meant, Macintosh, as in, traditional desktop computing (keyboard/mouse/windowing).
The point is, Steve is setting Mac OS up to be put to death. Not the Macintosh line of computers, though. Desktop computing will embrace the multi-touch UI. Apple’s OS X will be consolidated to a single flavour. Developers will be forced yet again to port their apps to the new multi-touch OS (as they did from 68k to PPC, from OS9 to OS X; from PPC to Intel; from 32bit to 64bit). Mouse will be gone, and so will (for the most part) keyboard.
There is no way Apple will give up the growing desktop market share. They will just convert it to multi-touch, keyboard-less, mouse-less computing, which will finally be the simple, easy and intuitive UI that the world has been hoping for over the last 30 years.
It’s all about focus, that and striking while the iron is hot. Apple has a chance to become a major player– or THE major player–in the emerging mobile computing market. But it is highly competitive and they’re fighting another behemoth that is giving it (Android) away for free. Apple needs to take advantage of their first mover status. After iPhone OS 4 is out, for both iPhone and iPad,
@ Penelope Pickels
I’ll throw my vote in with your argument.
It’s similar to my own.
I do think there will be a convergence of OS X and iPhone OS but, it’s a good way off yet.
Alas, the shit away from Mac has kept me from attending for the past 4 years. WWDC might have become a memory. Enjoy, newbs.
@Dallasm: Wow, overreacting a bit? Apple is pushing for the mobile space right now because we are right in the midst of the smartphone wars. Mac OS X is still being developed and there are plenty of Mac sessions at WWDC. The “Halo Effect” is in full swing, and is ramping up more and more now that the iPad is out. People are buying Macs in record numbers. Relax there, hoss. The Mac is not going anywhere.
@ Penelope Pickels and Predrag.
Couldn’t have said it better.