Apple continues to drag computer industry forward
First published in Business
in Vancouver,
August 28, 2001, Issue #618, The high-tech office column
by ALAN ZISMAN
Apple continues to drag computer industry forward
The very first piece I published in BIV,
back in June
1992, was titled How the mighty Macintosh became the Betamax of the
computer world. Well, somehow, the mighty Macintosh and Apple
are still around and, from time to time, still subject to press reports
of their imminent demise.
Last time around, the return of Apple founder Steve
Jobs and
the release of popular Imac and Ibook hardware were credited with
bringing
the company back from the brink.
But that's old news. And with e-com companies shutting
down and PC sales
stagnant, how's Apple doing? Despite continued strength in the graphics
and publishing and education markets, Apple hangs onto just four per
cent
to five per cent of the overall computer market.
Is it time to bring back the death watch?
This July, some 400 vendors joined Apple for the
semi-annual Macworld
show attended by more than 60,000 Mac users. The lineup for Steve Jobs'
9 a.m. keynote started at 1 a.m. This time around, however, Jobs was
tired
and short-tempered, at one point throwing a misbehaving digital camera
at a technician. Hardware introduced offered more speed, but otherwise
little new, and the new software packages demonstrated all included a
statement:
"It'll be ready in a couple of months."
The faithful were disappointed.
None of this, however, should be taken as signs that
it's time to count
Apple out. After all, it's a bit much to expect even Steve Jobs,
Superstar
to produce an exciting new piece of hardware or software every six
months,
on schedule for the Macworld keynotes.
And Apple, the only one of the first-generation
personal computer manufacturers
to still be in business, continues to have an influence far greater
than
its market share would indicate.
The company's biggest asset is its customer base,
which is far more
loyal than that of say, Dell or Compaq. Many Mac
customers
refer to themselves as "Mac people" and can't imagine using any other
computer.
Mac users tend to hang onto their computers longer than PC users and
are
more likely to buy a range of add-on software and gadgets. (And to pay
more for their toys.)
And while Apple software and hardware has borrowed
from PC standards
just as Microsoft has patterned Windows on the Macintosh, Apple
continues to set the pace for the rest of the computer industry. Some
recent
examples:
n USB. Though first introduced on PCs, it was only
when Apple made it
the standard way to add hardware to its Imacs that USB gadgets became
widely
available.
n Firewire. Mac users are the first to widely use this
high-speed connection
standard.
n Wireless networking. Again, the 802.11b standard was
available for
PCs, but was expensive and rarely used until Apple popularized its
affordable
Airport networking. A series of Airport base stations blanketed July's
Macworld show and lots of the Mac faithful brought their notebooks to
connect
in.
n Unix. While industrial-strength operating systems
such as Linux have
long been available for PCs, they have required a level of technical
skill
that has kept them from mass acceptance. Mac's new Unix-based OS X,
while
still with some version 1.0 rough edges, is poised to become the first
mass market version of this powerful technology.
n The "digital hub." Apple's vision remains focused on
the personal
computer, now as an easy-to-use way to connect digital cameras, music
players,
PDAs, CD-burners and more.
n Style. In introducing the Imac, Jobs compared it to
the Swatch --
a fun, colourful consumer product. PC makers are still finding it hard
to break away from their plain-beige boxes.
Although it has just a fraction of the market, Apple
continues to push
the rest of the industry forward.
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