“Apple launched a missile at Redmond today by releasing software called Boot Camp that allows its super sexy new Intel-based hardware to run Windows XP. For some reason we thought it was going to be the other way around. We imagined the first bomb would be Apple releasing a version of OS X that played on standard Wintel computers which shows how much we know. Is Apple a hardware company or a software company? Boot Camp would seem to imply that they’re first and foremost a hardware company,” Dan Gonsiorowski writes for Seattlest.
Imagine that “you’re a gamer and you dig sexy computers so, man, those Macs do look good. What to do, what to do… Boot Camp. A lot of gamers are going to buy Macs and run Windows XP on them and what that means to Redmond’s bottom line remains to be seen,” Gonsiorowski writes.
Full article here.
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Related articles:
PC Mag wag: Is Boot Camp the end of Apple? – April 05, 2006
Macs that run Windows: The New Trojan Wars – April 05, 2006
Boot Camp: Apple’s Trojan horse into the enterprise market? – April 05, 2006
How to run Microsoft Windows XP on an Intel-based Macintosh with Boot Camp – April 05, 2006
Apple’s ‘Boot Camp’ a watershed, could dramatically expand Mac market share – April 05, 2006
Apple’s ‘Boot Camp’ is bad news for Windows-only PC box assemblers – April 05, 2006
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Apple introduces Boot Camp: public beta software enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP – April 05, 2006
For the short term at least (assuming this plays out the way enthusiasts think it will), Redmond will be seeing sales from this move.
Microsoft will profit from this venture, Alienware and Dell will cut their profit margins (even more) and reduce supplies a little, and life will go on…
A lot of gamers are going to buy Macs and run Windows XP on them and what that means to Redmond’s bottom line remains to be seen,” Gonsiorowski writes.
Shouldn’t mean much until the PC games that gamers covet the most are ported to MacOSX. At that point, sales of retail copies of Windows will start dropping off, as will Windows powered PCs. Two years?
why does everybody say theres no games on macs, im not a big game player but the major titles all seem to come out (if sometimes a bit late) why do people pay thousands to play games on computers when consoles have so much power (directed at game playing) for such a small price and an endless list of games. – and dont they make xbox 360 games on quad g5s anyway, cant imagine that there hard to port (ppc anyway).
Agreed Gregg, 2 years maybe 3 and the likes of Dull and HP will probably be squeezed so tight they will merge until they fold altogether… interesting move by Apple…
I like it…
From the “No Duh” department:
“Boot Camp would seem to imply that they’re first and foremost a hardware company”
“Boot Camp: Work, have fun,…. or just have fun!”
Why is this a shot at Redmond? All Microsoft will be hurt in this is having to hire extra staff to manage Windows box sales. As for gamers, hardcore gamers don’t want an iMac for games anyway, they want a custom machine with the best video cards and the ability to upgrade the card later, something an iMac can’t provide. Maybe the new PowerMacs (or Mac Pros), whenever they come out.
Microsoft may be looking down the road and concerned if too many people switch to Mac, but they’re far more concerned about Apple’s iPod, iTMS, and Apple’s next move into the living room than Macs that can dual boot or even virtualize Windows.
games on PCs are not selling at the same rate as dedicated gaming systems. Combine all the games sold for Nintendo, Playstation, XBox and some other handhelds and they total much more than games sold exclusively for use on PC’s. So it’s not about gaming.
The most likely outcome is always based on human nature.
Do most people like to change? Not unless they are forced.
There’s an argument to be made that for SOME people Windows HAS forced them…but for most… it works ok. They don’t push it to the limit, don’t make many changes, and just use their machines for the software that came with it or for a specialized purpose. So there will be some erosion for Dell and HP (more for HP since they advertise less) at the low end especially since the intel mac mini’s DO include some exclusive and well crafted software in the form of iLife. Elegant and dead simple to use. But this is more of trial balloon to get people ready for Apple’s push into the world of Enterprise computing. You can expect to see an Apple version of an Exchange server sometime around the Leopard release. At that point on both the consumer and business fronts, Apple will have completely flanked Microsoft and it’s market share will grow as a HARDWARE maker since they offer a BIGGER solution that truly accomodates everyone who wants to use a computer.
lbuschjr is spot-on! MSFT must appreciate having the additional market of Macs for Windows. They make good $$ selling office for Mac, now they sell Windows for Intel Macs as well.
…until conceivably folks buy macs for windows, get exposed to OS X and then switch…
If you HAD to choose, would you rather run Apple OS X software on a PC or Windows XP software on your Mac?
Apple could live on as a software only company more easilly than it could as a hardware only company (iPod excluded).
For the record, I’m glad there BOTH!
Hardware or software company? They control the whole damn widget!
Apple is one of the few companies still using the same hardware/software model of the 60s and 70s:
The OS is there for the sole purpose of selling the hardware. The only purpose of VMS was to sell VAXes. The only purpoose of Cray switching from COS to UNICOS was to sell more Crays. There are dozens of historical examples like this.
IBM (and the IBM clones) and Microsoft changed this model for most hardware vendors. Even IBM’s leading OSes for thier servers is more often than not UNIX or Linux based rather than something IBM has spent billions developing.
Apple still uses its OS to sell its hardware. Mac OS X does a respectable job at that. Extending the capability to include Windows will sell more hardware.
Please. Gamers don’t pay for their copies of Windows XP. Everybody knows that.
This isn’t a missile launched at Microsoft, its a missile launched at Dell.
Think of it as a long range missle…it will take some time to get there, but will be very effective.
“Is Apple a hardware company or a software company?”
Apple is a computer company. Anyone who puts more emphasis on their hardware than their software is not paying attention. Apple is, perhaps, one of the greatest software companies in the history of computers. This is, somehow, often overlooked.
This is a shot at Redmond because it makes it much easier to switch. How many windows users will touch windows again after two years of OSX exposure? Apart from gamers maybe. But as others have pointed out, they don’t contribute much to Redmond’s bottom line anyway.
And just as a general observation: How many times have Steve Jobs made a major mistake since coming back to Apple? How many times has he made a stunning move (not always apparent at the time)?
Magic word: result, as in we might se interesting result(s) from this.
“Microsoft may be looking down the road and concerned if too many people switch to Mac, but they’re far more concerned about Apple’s iPod, iTMS, and Apple’s next move into the living room than Macs that can dual boot or even virtualize Windows.”
I agree. This is about shoring up a bulwark of the business, as well as just thumbing your nose at Microsoft (our computer can run two operating systems, your programmers can’t even seem to write one). But the real battle is in other, future devices where Apple’s mastery of user interfaces goes up against Microsoft’s negative design sense and desire to kludge everything up. Round 1, music devices, to Apple. Round 2– remains to be seen.
What a crock of SHIT.
Apple is both a software and hardware company, always have been!
There has been so much bullshit on this lately that it is amazing to think that people think they can be one and not the other. That is the windoze world not the Apple world.
Apple control everything and now they have a grip on the Doze… World.
Lets see what happens but for Xsake let us all stop this crap about being hardware and not software and visa versa.
Leo
Apple is an incredible software company, and the speed at which they write software blows Redmonds minds, but if Apple wants to gain market share, they will stick to their guns and put emphasis on hardware. If I was Apple, I would throw in even more incentive and include iWork with iLife and drop the price of Leopard to $99. How many more features can the average Joe handle at this point. Since you are making your money on hardware, then lose money on software to provide incentive for the PC grapevine. Perfect examples: iTunes for free/iPods rule the world. Micro$oft loses money on Xbox, yet gains market share against Playstation and Nintendo.
I see this hurting PC venders who sell boring PC boxes with Microsoft preloaded. This would also explain why Microsoft has started putting pressure on OEM builders to include a legit copy of Windows OS.
Boot Camp.
Interesting name.
Go to boot camp to prepare for war….
Die, Microsoft, DIE!
I used to switch back and forth between OS 9 and OS X for about a year and a half on my Titanium, till I finally settled on only OS X.
I give the Window/OS X switchers on intelMacs about the same, maybe even less time – especially once they discover how safe it feels to be in a virus-free environment.
Apple is a hardware company that makes better software than the “dominant” software company.