Microsoft Wake Up--Apple is gaining Intellectual Capital and Market

I’m a big fan of all-in-one computer designs like Apple’s new svelte iMac. I like they way they look and I love the idea of freeing up desk space for more of the essential clutter of my life. Truth be told, I think Apple’s industrial designs are fetching. But that’s not why I think watching Apple’s progress in the computer market should be a primary concern to Microsoft and a small handful of licensees such as Hewlett Packard, Gateway, and Acer (all of which have also developed and marketed all-in-one desktop designs over the years).

Three times over the last 9 months I have urged friends or relatives to buy an Apple iMac. In each case, I made my recommendation because an Intel-based iMac didn’t require that the owner go out and buy Mac-specific software, or because the consultee could really benefit from several of the Mac’s somewhat unique features.

The most important Apple feature today is Mac OSX. It’s incredibly reliable, powerful and one of the most utilitarian operating systems ever developed for a personal computer. And I believe OSX is a real threat to Microsoft’s one-time market hegemony.

Another thing I really love about current the current and just released iMac line is its software bundle. It’s first-rate and redefines the words and concept of “personal productivity software.” It’s not like much of the current disk wasting shovel ware that clutters up most consumer Wintel machines. I’m somewhat interested in cinematography and filmmaking. If I were a lot younger and in college, I’d have an iMac in my dorm and use it to produce documentaries on California history and other topics I’m interested in.

One of the best start-up pitches I’ve ever seen (including the nearly ten years  I produced Demo shows) was shown to me last year at a local college. The entire pitch was assembled and produced using bundled Mac software and shown to me on an iMac with a huge 24-inch screen.  It was presented using iFilm and had I been capable of investing in this student business plan I might have cut a check on the spot. Hands down, it was better than any PowerPoint pitch I’ve ever seen.

Apple has changed recently. While it enjoys the most loyal user base in the known galaxy, it now seems to understand that money doesn’t really  grow on trees . The iMac platform comes with most everything anyone needs to get basic tasks completed and it doesn’t require its users to go out and spend nearly a grand on software and hardware, or to become software-copying felons. Chalk another one up for the new Apple.

That iMac can also run Windows is not the least bit important to me. And, looking back over 20 years, it’s never really been all that important to Mac users since the capability was introduced via add-in coprocessor cards when the first expandable Macs were introduced a long time ago.

I hope Microsoft is paying close attention to what Apple has done with OSX, and the Mac’s personal productivity applications. And this certainly applies to the manufacturers of Windows-based computers.

Apple’s designs are attractive and moderately priced. But there is still one thing that the Wintel architecture does much better than Apple.  That task is using a desktop computer as a personal video recorder.  As it stands now, Windows Media Center computers are much less expensive than the iMac/Apple TV combination.

Wintel for now has a decided lead in tablet computing. Although Apple reportedly has much of the basic technology for tablet computing  in house, it has yet to launch a convertible version of it’s MacBook portable.

But I have a gut feeling that this too will change before the leaves on my stone fruit and avocado trees turn red, then orange, then brown.

In the end the more competition there is in the marketplace, the better the experience for users. And who knows, maybe a renewed hard charging Apple could force Microsoft off the dime and make it refocus on true innovation. Jim Forbes, Apple Dreaming on rural northern San Diego County on 0870/07/2007.