Apple’s Schiller: We’re not getting out of the computer business

“First there was iPod, now there’s iPhone. The next phase of Apple’s plan to reinvent itself as a consumer electronics company was unveiled Tuesday by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and it received a warm reception from Wall Street,’ The Associated Press reports.

“The touch-screen-controlled device plays music, surfs the Internet and delivers voice mail and e-mail differently than any other cell phone,” AP reports.

AP reports, “iPhone, introduced by Jobs during his keynote speech at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco, was accompanied by Apple TV, a set-top box that streams video from computers to television. the company is even getting a name change — from Apple Computer Inc. to just Apple Inc. — to better reflect its transition to a full-scale consumer electronics manufacturer and retailer.”

AP reports, “Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for worldwide marketing, said Apple isn’t getting out of the computer business, despite the name change. It’s simply broadening its business. ‘We sell Macintoshes and will continue to do so and are very happy with that business,’ he said.”

Full article here.
Of course Apple Inc. isn’t getting out of the computer business. Mac market share and unit sales are growing and profitable – and, in fact, the iPhone itself is a Mac.

Related articles:
Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone – January 10, 2007
The only thing really wrong with Apple’s iPhone is its name – January 09, 2007
Is Apple building ‘The Device?’ [revisited] – January 09, 2007
Analyst Bajarin: Apple’s iPhone and Apple TV are industry game changers – January 09, 2007
Time: ‘iPhone could crush cell phone market pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority’ – January 09, 2007
Analyst: Apple iPhone should be given its own category – ‘brilliantphone’ – January 09, 2007
Cingular to use Synchronoss Technologies’ platform for Apple iPhone – January 09, 2007
iPhone photos from Apple’s Macworld Expo booth – January 09, 2007
Enderle: Apple’s iPhone is going to do very well – January 09, 2007
Apple debuts iPhone: touchscreen mobile phone + widescreen iPod + Internet communicator – January 09, 2007

60 Comments

  1. The worst thing about what Lord Jobs and Slave Schiller do is to be so sure that all of us are falling for their shill.

    No, the worst thing is – they are right. We are the suckers, going to any lenght necessary to get our hands on greenbacks galore and hand it over to them.

    They’ve just about drained the Mac market dry and are done with that. To say otherwise is simply designed to get what’s left as the company leaves the computer business behind.

    Steve said so yesterday in the beginning of the Keynote – something like: “we’re done with the Mac”.

    Now, it’s on to sucking up many billions from the world of groopies who rather have the new shiny toys than anything else on earth.

    Steve IS a genius – even in cuffs, he’s a genius. I’m going to buy some AAPL.

  2. “we’re done with the mac” you interpreting that as literal for a stance by the company in general. are you a moron? Seriously that is got to be the most illogical thing i have ever heard. How about he was done talking about Mac for the keynote? The Mac computer is here to stay just look for much more integration between the entire product mix. He wanted the iPhone to shine yesterday and probably introduced the Tv because as you can imagine in the near future one will be able to enter a friends house sync their iPhone up to “apple” tv and bam start communicating and watching their content. This is the beginning of a very future thinking approach from Apple. I’m excited.

  3. Baloney. The REAL story here is that Apple has totally changed the computing landscape with this iPhone.

    Think about it. If you had told me a week ago that we would be able to run OS X on a handheld device with only 4 Gigs memory, I would have said, “You are crazy!”

    This new handheld OS X opens the door for all kinds of devices we couldn’t even imagine a week ago—handheld computers, set-top devices, home appliance devices, audio/recording/hifi devices.

    Apple will be able to extend it’s computing platform into places we never dreamed of a week ago.

    The Mac OS will be able to move way beyond the desktop in ways MS can’t even dream about.

  4. Investor, licensing the OS would break the “end-to-end” solution that makes Apple so successful. As soon as you have others tinkering with your perfectly-orchestrated experience, you become what the Windows world is famous for.

    So, no. Apple will not license the OS.

  5. @ doh!

    Me too. This will be the end of things like FM transmitters for our cars, we’ll just stream to iCar stereos just like AppleTV.
    Does this mean Apple is finally building the in-dash I’ve been asking them for since the first docking bay iPod?
    I thought back then it would be neat to plug it directly in like a cassette tape. But shit, wirelessly streaming it works for me, too.

    {salivates}

  6. coolfactor,

    I agree with the end-to-end part. But what if they had a say in the configurations that could hold MacOS X? I can see the down side being more problems in the variety of HW, but on the upside, a wider penetration of the OS.

  7. We saw a LOT of Leopard yesterday. It is looking very cool. You know what I can’t wait for? A 30″ monitor with the same sensors and apps just barely hinted at by the “finger pinch” photo app–Steve slipped and called it the best photo app ever, then qualified it by saying “on a mobile device” Can you imagine Aperture working that way? FCP? Logic? VectorWorks? Adobe CS? How about a tablet that is a little larger than the phone? Sanyo-Epson released info the other day about a 1920 x 1080 lcd that is 7″ diag. Over 300 ppi. My heart rate is elevating just thinking about the possibilities.

    That Schiller has to address this today is absurd. But, few people really “get” what is actually possible, and not just pedestrian.

    I’m stoked ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  8. Apple won’t license the OS. It’s all about the OS, and how the OS gets to your fingers, eyes, ears, and brain. And dropping the “Computer” is the biggest hint.
    I think what they really want is to get rid of the hardware all together.

    -c

    MW: ‘soon’ (but not soon enough)

  9. You all have missed the big picture. This new device has something that will change the way everything in used. It’s the interface. All touch. This will make it’s way into all devices, all of them. From the Mac itself to the iPod to every electronic device made. Oh yea say good bye to your keyboard. This is big. Big Big BIG!

  10. Mark this date.

    Apple Computer – history!

    Apple Toys Inc – the future!

    Lap up all the “boom, it just works” you can for as long as it lasts but the Macintosh is headed for the museums of the world to be placed in the sections entitled: “how PCs changed the way we spend the day until we got bored because we couldn’t carry them in our pocket so Lord Jobs invented his version the cell phone with internet.”

  11. Apple will rule the home comsumer electronics industry soon. There is no doubt that Apple has big plans and TIVO and Replay and others better watch out. I would love to see a true intergrated apple DVR with my satellite system like directv had the tivo.

  12. Why don’t people understand…the iPhone IS a computer…just a small one in your pocket. Handheld device, laptops, and desktops, all computers, all running OSX, each with their place, and now all working together seamlessly.

  13. I saw the smile Steve Jobs had on his face for the keynote. It’s the same smile he had on his face when he introduced the original Macintosh back in ’84. He knows he’s got a winner and is very proud of his team. At the same time, deep down inside he’s laughing at Microsoft. He knows they could never do what Apple does when it comes to innovating.

    Apple, Inc. The true tech giant.

  14. Get out of the computer business? Anyone saying this apparently has no clue and thinks the Mac is still in the sad state it was in the mid-90s.

    Mac sales are increasing each quarter. Concentrating on market share is ridiulous, only because for Apple, it doesn’t exactly matter. Apple makes a nice profit on each computer. Dell makes very little, even if they do have the market share.

    OS X works so damn well because Apple makes the whole widget. Why is that so hard to understand? Apple doesn’t make that much on an OS X license. Opening it up to PCs will just open up the compat. issues Microsuck deals with all the time.

    Apple is in a neat transition right now. The Mac you so malign will be all around you before you know it, starting with a phone and then who knows what.

  15. iPhone may be a computer, but then all that means is that it will eventually kill off the need for notebooks and other computers.
    Why lug around a notebook or take up space in your home with a desktop when you have a iPhone and at home plug it into your 46-inch LCD high-def TV? The Mac (and other computers) have begun to enter the dinosaur mode and about two years from now (when the next gen, more powerful and more storage space iPhone comes out) someone will start noticing a shift in computer buying habits….

    (Notice how iPhone has a similar price point as the Mac mini? High end iPhone = low end Mac mini price.)

  16. I was in an Apple store months ago and 2 grandpas were excited over ipods. GRANDPAS! I was in a Best Buy on boxing day and although the Apple Macs were at the very back of the store AND surrounded by boxes of other product so it wasn’t easy to get to the Macs, there were women and couples standing around trying out the computers. I couldn’t believe it. Although i’m a Machead, i’m more happy that people are discovering another way to compute that’s far less painful than using Windows.

  17. Human input into computing devices has gone from cards to keyboards to light pens to mice to fingers to joysticks to knobs to sliders – and so on — all before 1984! Why do people think that any single computing device should use only one method for human interaction? The beauty of combining methods, such as the mouse + keyboard you are currently using to read this thread, or the keyboard + Wacom tablet + pen that graphic designers might use for Photoshop, or the physical buttons + MultiTouch of iPhone, demonstrate the power of using varied input methods to accomplish assorted tasks on a single device.

    With that in mind, think of a display that looks like your current 20-30″ LCD but has Multi-Touch capability. It sits on your desk, not at the exclusion of your mouse and keyboard, but in addition to it.

  18. Apple gets it because they realize it is about integration and interaction, not just computers or cell phones or mp3 players. Or even a set top box. It’s about services and devices that compliment each other. This is why Sony put a blu-ray drive in their PS3. This is why Microsoft got into the game console business and finally made an MP3 player of their own.

    But they are also-rans at this point behind the innovation leader, Apple.

    So I have no fears about the Mac being abandoned. As long as there is an information services demand for a computer, there will be a Mac.

  19. I was thinking about getting a 13-inch notebook instead of lugging around either my 15 or 17 inch notebooks. But now I am going wait a bit and rethink. The iPhone is basically a mini-notebook. So I will check it out some more and hold off on my buying a notebook plans. The iPhone looks like it could be the on-the-go notebook I really need.

  20. I think the most interesting thing about yesterday’s announcements — iPhone, Apple TV, name change — and what a lot of people are missing, is that even though Apple changed its name to Apple, Inc., leaving out the “Computer”, in no way does that indicate a shift *away* from computers. If anything, it’s the opposite.

    This is key: iPhone establishes OS X as a viable OS platform for consumer electronic devices. The name change gives Apple credibility to expand into new markets and not be viewed as *just* a computer maker.

    I *love* that iPhone runs OS X! That’s like telling Microsoft, “You know your crippled little Windows CE (Consumer Electronics) operating system? Well… checkmate.”

    In the future, I expect to see more devices from Apple built on the OS X platform. I don’t expect Apple to license the full OS X to other companies. OS X is the crown jewels. But do you think they might license a stripped-down consumer electronics version for embedded-device manufacturers? Not sure about that, but probably not.. I think they’ll want to consolidate their position first.

    MW led: Apple led the way

  21. ChrissyOne,

    You could be very correct. I really hope you’re not though, I just don’t want to imagine a world where I’m stuck buying Dells and HPs, and, … ooo ick! I’m gaging just thinking about it. If you’re correct where will we get quality hardware from?

    One reason you may not be correct is that, Apple would have to make itself reliant on “others” to make OS X compatible hardware to run their software on. Now, given Apples history, how often does Apple not do their own thing from soup to nuts. When they make a cell phone they make the whole think, same goes for the iPod, TV, and of course, computers.

  22. I don’t think so, ChrissyOne. I think Apple will always sell hardware. I think Steve Jobs recognizes that the computer is changing and developing less and less of a footprint, although I doubt this will ever be “zero” (ie. no hardware).

    And, ZachCube, you hit it right on the head. OS 11 will feature voice-control and touch screen technology throughout the OS – like that Tom Cruise movie from a few years ago where they could predict crimes before they happened (whatever it was called). Watch the computers in that movie.

  23. Right, they might not ‘be out of the computer business’ but lets face it, OS X, its not just for big bulky computers anymore.

    The OS X platform will run on anything from your iPhone to your Apple desktop, and TV streaming device (TV)

    Ditching the computer is the Biggest Trojan Halo ever…. This will tranform even the most rabid despicable Apple hater into an OS X user.

    Love It!!

  24. Getting out of computers… not a priority?
    Because… what they’re total idiots who hate making money?

    My gawd, Mac is finally growing in revenues, market share, has good margins, and is Apple’s most profitable product.

    Just because they didn’t take time away from a brand new product announcement for more demos of a not yet shipping OS update.

    The iPhone is exciting financially because it’s incremental–on top of everything else. But in the short term, the biggest financial leverage Apple has is growing mac share. Which it IS DOING. I think there’s more growth opportunity there than in iPods–they’re not going to double their market share in iPods, but they could in computers.

    But the drivers of increased mac share–Intel, Windows compatibility, the stores… they’re in place and firing on all cylinders.

  25. And to think, Apple kept all this secret.

    Everyone heard the rumors of an iPhone.

    When we finally saw it, it was more than we ever imagined it would be!!

    Now remember that Leopard has a lot of “top secrets”???

    I’m wondering what in Leopard will be beyond all our imaginations!!

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