MacDailyNews Take: Well, good morning, Rip!
Mr. Van Winkle continues, “So, what does Apple look like these days? Apple is not as much about the Mac anymore (in case anyone didn’t notice). And it’s not just about a successful gadget sideshow, i.e., the iPod. It’s about the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.”
“So, what do you do if you’re a PC maker whose business is still all about the Windows-Intel PC?” Crothers asks, “You slavishly imitate as fast as you can.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: CNET. Home of the 30-year-old newsflash.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]
Hey CNET –
1984 just called. They want their insightful analysis back.
The other PC makers are nothing like Apple. They all depend on Microsoft to provide the OS for their computers. In this respect, Apple is unique and untouchable, because no matter how much you “imitate Apple,” you’ll only be as good as everyone else (“average”). HP is the only other PC maker attempting to go “in-house” with an OS, at least for their mobile devices, and I actually wish them success.
The MDN take makes me giggle.
No PC maker is like Apple for innovation, just that they all get their products made in the far east.
Hey CNET, Apple did not Sell out & it did not Copy “Wintel” just 2b Successful.
“May Monkeyboy stay @ the Helf 4 as long as it takes”
This CNET idiot is clueless. Sure, they need to develop a quality modular OS, hire innovative engineers and people, set up an international brick store presence, have about $50 billion in the bank, own a chip design company, build a billion dollar server farm, … AND BE THE FIRST TO COME UP WITH WINNING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT PEOPLE REALLY WANT TO OWN!
Clueless idiot!
@ Deus Ex Technica,
LOL
I don’t think 1984 is far enough back. The Apple 1 was the first PC after all.
Remember when everyone was making fun of the name “iPad”? Well now that Apple can’t keep iPads on the shelves because they are continuously sold out, it’s not so funny anymore. All the copycat rivals are naming their tablets with the word “pad” in the name. Who knew.
Lordgodalmighty isn’t this bonehead aware that Microsoft spent TEN YEARS! beavering away to come up with their original Mac OS clone, Windows 3, tweaking the GUI juuuust enough so that they could get sued by Apple and win?
“Okay R&D dudes, quickly make me a completely new OS, so we’re not dependent on Microsoft anymore.”
HP may have a shot at it now with webOS. Everyone else gets to decide whether they put their livelihoods in the hands of Google/Android/ChromeOS (with a long road ahead of them on the desktop), or stay with Microsoft (and forget about mobile), or work some mishmash in the middle until the dust settles.
What is amazing to me is that the hardware makers are so desperate to compete, that they are willing to give up one master for another (MS for Google).
As others have said, HP is about the only one with a shot and hopefully they will do well. If I worked for MS, I’d be applying for jobs at HP.
No other PC maker has a chance to compete with Apple, because every other PC maker has to buy an OS it hopes will play nice with the hardware it wants to put it on. Windows is a joke in any mobile environment, laptops included. Why haven’t we seen any tablets – true tablets, not laptops with touchscreens and syluses – because any prototypes running Windows 7 have either not run or are so slow that people can’t stand to look at it.
So PC assemblers have to compete with price and stuff added features in their hardware. They don’t have the money (or resources) to design elegant hardware, because that costs money (and talent). They also don’t have the mobile app system like the App Store, and being hardware developers, can’t create the atmosphere, SDK, or other necessities to create one.
The only company which has any shot at competing with Apple is HP, because it bought WebOS and Palm. And when was the last time you saw HP software that worked well? HP has a history of tripping over itself when it steps out of its traditional printer/scanner product lines, and this will be no different.
No, Apple stands alone and will, especially in the tablet arena, for quite some time.
Its funny. its no doubt all other companies are jumping on the latest crazy. but those are just sheep, by the time they get their stuff together and on the shelf, Apple has just released the Next Better item, then your stuck playing catchup again. Dont imitate, accelerate. Thats why apple is successful, and they are modifying old ideas in to other old ideas.
The first PC maker (other than Apple) that actually begins to develop it’s OWN OS for it’s OWN HARDWARE will be the first, true threat to Apple. Even then, it would be a long while before they would be in the same league, since Apple has been doing it since 1977.
Until that happens, Apple will continue to define how people will interact with their technology, and an entire industry will exist that attempts to operate within Apple’s rules without infringing on Apple’s IP.
My post above intended to amplify @bizlaw’s excellent point about HP/WebOS.
@iGads:
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“If I worked for MS, I’d be applying for jobs at HP.”
you mean your programming skills are not good enough to apply at apple?
@SamLowry
Oh, you made me laugh. Can you imagine applying for a job at Apple with MS as my work history or putting your MS boss down as a reference.
And while other PC makers are looking at where Apple is today, Apple’s gaze is fixed at least 2 years further down the road.
American USA = Apple Inc. makes their own:
+ Mac OS X = Zero virus
+ Macs = iMac + MacBook Pro + Mac Mini
+ iTunes + iPods + App Store w/ 225K Apps
+ iPhone
+ iPad
+ QuickTime + Safari + Final Cut Pro
+ iLife + iPhoto + iDvD + PhotoBooth, Aperture
+ iAd
Apple Stores Worldwide!!!!!
… $44 Billion in CASH!
… Buy AAPL stocks!
I believe IBM developed their own OS (IBM OS/2 Warp 4 and OS/2 Warp Server) for their own hardware. But of course a failure.
Developers, developers, developers, developers!
Guess Apple did not just take the hint, they went and owned it!!!!
Apple and the others are fundamentally different in their core philosophies:
Steve Jobs and his guys sit around and say “That concept is really cool and it’s going to be a great and useful product, lets build it”
The PC guys (like most firms in the world) say ” What do the SURVEYS say the people want and will we SELL a lot? “
Sure Apple is interested in units and money but it’s AFTER the cool concept, the others think money first. That’s the big difference between them. Apple will push out risky products like the iPad because they think ‘there’s something there’ although every poll shows tablets won’t sell.
Clone assemblers develop a modular, scalable, secure OS? Yeah, right.
If that’s so, they’re AT LEAST 10 years behind Apple. Probably more. In terms of UIs? Lightyears behind.
@tombstorm… Yes, IBM developed OS2, which many regarded as superior to whatever Microsoft was shoveling out at the time.
Microsoft used their marketshare and power to effectively kill OS2. It’s one of their biggest evil ploys.
I’ve used hardware from HP, albeit during the Fiorina era. Don’t think Apple has anything to worry about. HP is the worlds largest PC maker married to MS and printer biz, caught between IBM, Oracle/Sun, all the mobile players, and all the up and coming PC/tablet makers. They were just desperate enough to out bid everyone for Palm.
Seriously? Another story without mention of the iPhone antenna issue?
*sigh*