Apple to start selling Parallels Desktop for Mac in Apple Retail Stores

“Apple Computer retail stores will soon start selling Parallels’ virtualization software, allowing users to run Windows and Mac applications simultaneously,” Tom Krazit reports for CNET News.

Krazit reports, “The Apple Store, CompUSA, Staples, Office Depot, Fry’s Electronics and Amazon.com have all lined to up to offer Parallels Desktop for Mac over the next 30 days, Parallels is expected to announce Tuesday. Owners of Macs with Intel’s processors can use the software to run Windows XP in a virtual machine alongside the Mac OS, and move data back and forth between Windows and Mac applications.”

“The next version of the Mac OS will include the Boot Camp software, but it’s not clear whether Mac OS X 10.5 [Leopard] will support virtualization software like Parallels. Apple has not confirmed any plans, but bloggers and Apple enthusiasts have speculated about the possibility,” Krazit reports.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bruce D.” for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Note: No press release from Parallels, yet. We’ll post it when it becomes available.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Ars Technica review: Parallels Desktop 1.0 for Mac OS X – July 10, 2006
O’Reilly MacDevCenter Review: Parallels Desktop for the Mac is ‘amazing’ – June 28, 2006
Forced to run Windows? Make Parallels Desktop run faster – June 27, 2006
ComputerRentals.com announces record Q2 sales based on high demand for Apple Macs – June 28, 2006
a href=”http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/apple_could_buy_parallels_with_petty_cash/”>Apple could buy Parallels with petty cash and say ‘buy a Mac, get two computers for price of one’ – June 22, 2006
Apple ‘Get a Mac’ web page pushes Parallels Desktop instead of Apple’s own Boot Camp – June 18, 2006
Parallels Desktop for Mac goes final; simultaneously run Mac OS, Windows, Linux on Intel-powered Mac – June 15, 2006
Which is better for running Windows programs on Macs, Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop? – May 25, 2006
Washington Times: Parallels Workstation 2.1 ran Windows XP ‘quite nicely’ on an Apple Macintosh – April 18, 2006
RUMOR: Apple Retail Stores to sell Microsoft Windows XP – April 06, 2006
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Why buy a Dell when Apple’s Intel-based computers will run both Mac OS X and Windows? – June 08, 2005

30 Comments

  1. “all lined to up to offer Parallels Desktop for Mac over the next 30 days”

    Are they phasing it in over 30 days, or only offering it for 30 days? ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
    MW = hope, as in what I do when I think of Leopard!

  2. If Apple is going to put Parallels in their stores in the next 30 days and the WWDC is within that time frame I find it hard to believe that they are going to offer virtualization within Leopard. Why would Apple promote a product in their stores and then make it pointless within days of it being stocked on their shelves? Looking at this from a strickly retailing standpoint it wouldn’t make much sense. They want product to move in their stores so they wouldn’t sell it and then make it obsolete within a few days. It just doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint because they wouldn’t make any money from it. Remember that Apple is a company out to make money. So, selling this and then saying that it is pointless wouldn’t be the smart way to go.

  3. “alot” is not a word.

    Sorry, when I saw that misspelling I had visions of my English teacher yelling at the classroom. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

    But, yes, Parallels is going to smiling all the way to the bank.

  4. Rammer,

    Embrace (seeing that now) and Extinguish (coming after people use Mac OS X and realize they don’t need Windows). Watch and learn.

    As we see it, Apple is executing a two-part “Embrace and Extinguish” plan. Give people their Windows “insecurity blanket” first. They believe they need Windows and cannot be convinced otherwise. Let them find out for themselves what Mac OS X and Apple’s Mac-only apps like iLife, Safari, etc. are all about. Then, when the time comes to buy their next Mac, they’ll be just like us: they won’t even care if it can run Windows. We are extremely confident that Mac OS 10.4 Tiger will win converts from Windows XP. Heck, for that matter, we’re extremely confident that Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar would win converts from Windows XP. Leopard vs. Windows Vista? It’ll be no contest. We’ve seen it happen in real life too many times: let someone really use a Mac for a couple of weeks and they simply do not want to go back to Windows.MacDailyNews, June 17, 2006

  5. Microsoft won’t make much off of this. I’d venture to guess that 50% or more of the Windows installs will be old OEM discs or copies from friends. There aren’t a lot of people that are going to run out and puy $200 for a retail copy of Windows XP just to run it in Parallels. Especially since you can run 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT and any other flavor of Windows you want.

  6. I’ve noticed in the Mac commercial that comment on how the Mac can also run Windows too, at the bottom of the screen is a disclaimer that you need Windows software and Parallels for this to work. So Apple is already pushing the software ahead of Boot Camp…

  7. I agree. I dug out my 6 year old copy of Windows 2000 to use in Parallels and it works great. I certainly wasn’t going to give Microsoft any more money, especially for that junk XP, just to run a handful of Windows programs in virtualization.

  8. “The next version of the Mac OS will include the Boot Camp software, but it’s not clear whether Mac OS X 10.5 [Leopard] will support virtualization software like Parallels. Apple has not confirmed any plans, but bloggers and Apple enthusiasts have speculated about the possibility,” Krazit reports.

    The above seems a dumb thing to say when you’ve already said:

    “Apple Computer retail stores will soon start selling Parallels’ virtualization software, allowing users to run Windows and Mac applications simultaneously,” Tom Krazit reports for CNET News.

    What would be the logic of bringing a new product into your store for what is likely to be no more than a 6-month run? The only motivation for that would be guilt … unless Apple already bought, or promised to buy, the company. We’ve heard no news of the latter and have never before seen evidence of the former … so?

  9. War:
    “Why would Apple promote a product in their stores and then make it pointless within days of it being stocked on their shelves?…They want product to move in their stores so they wouldn’t sell it and then make it obsolete within a few days.”

    True, but the answer to this is obvious. What if Apple is planning to buy Parallels? Then it all makes perfect sense. They put it out on the shelves, see how it sells, see if the public buys it, and if there’s a market, they buy the company.

    Heck, they may buy it anyway, just to keep MS from buying it like they did Virtual PC. Who knows how long Parallels will be a hot item. A few years from now when most of the Windows users on macs have stopped using Windows all together, Parallels might not be a huge seller. I can understand Apple not wanting to spend the time and $$ putting it into osX until they know it’s worth it.

    Also, supporting your 3rd party developers is great for PR. Makes up for some of the backlash behind Sherlock and Dashboard incidents.

  10. I hope that the Apple stores have a demo machine with some apps so that it can be demoed to Windows prospects. I took a Windows friend there who was interested in a mac but needed the ability to run Windows and he couldn’t see it.

  11. I hope that the Apple stores have a demo machine with some apps so that it can be demoed to Windows prospects. I took a Windows friend there who was interested in a mac but needed the ability to run Windows and he couldn’t see it.

    Why did he need to see it? It looks just like Windows.

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