Apple's best bet: quit the hardware business

[vailr]

Apple's best bet for long-term success is to quit the hardware business and license the Mac to Dell

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39284186,00.htm

My comment: since Foxconn already makes both: Apple's Ipod and HP's PC motherboards, maybe HP & Apple would be a more logical partnership?

 

[Evilhomer99]

I think licensing to Dell would be the last death rattle for apple, Dell is in hot water right now anyway. Apple has shown resilance in the past. Apple and Hp both have their golden gooses, IPOD's and Printers, so maybe that would work out great.

 

[pkme2]

"It ain't gonna happen!' Not if Steve Jobs has anything to say. My guess is that he'll keep kicking, scratching and fighting to the bitter end. Take a look at the man. Does it give you any indication that the man isn't a fighter. AFAIK, he might just throw up his hands and say the heck with it.

But following his history, off and on. He srarted it, left it and came back. His successes surely outnumber his down side. So to answer your statement.......

It will be a cold day in .............................................................................

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: pkme2
"It ain't gonna happen!' Not if Steve Jobs has anything to say. My guess is that he'll keep kicking, scratching and fighting to the bitter end. Take a look at the man. Does it give you any indication that the man isn't a fighter. AFAIK, he might just throw up his hands and say the heck with it.

But following his history, off and on. He srarted it, left it and came back. His successes surely outnumber his down side. So to answer your statement.......

It will be a cold day in .............................................................................

Steve who?

 

[Operandi]

Yep those new Mac Pro's sure do suck don't they :roll:.

 

[manly]

I guess you're not aware that Apple announced quarterly results yesterday.

 

[Operandi]

OSX is nice but I think Apple's best selling point has always been their hardware.

 

[zephyrprime]

What a joke this analyst is. His argument is that Intel can't afford to subsidize Apple anymore. Even if Intel is cutting Apple a sweet deal on chips right now, how much does he think apple would actually be hurt if Intel charged regular prices? The CPU is only a fraction of the cost of the total apple product.

By moving to the industry standard pc architechture, Apple has already sliced a huge component off of their costs. Even if Dell has cheaper assembly (and it is really only assembly, not manufacturing or design which is done by taiwanese companies), the price savings would not be great in my opinion.

 

[dexvx]

The irony is that you can get a Mac Pro for cheaper than a similarily configured Dell Precision.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
What a joke this analyst is. His argument is that Intel can't afford to subsidize Apple anymore. Even if Intel is cutting Apple a sweet deal on chips right now, how much does he think apple would actually be hurt if Intel charged regular prices? The CPU is only a fraction of the cost of the total apple product.

By moving to the industry standard pc architechture, Apple has already sliced a huge component off of their costs. Even if Dell has cheaper assembly (and it is really only assembly, not manufacturing or design which is done by taiwanese companies), the price savings would not be great in my opinion.

I agree.

The switch to Intel CPUs is too recent to be reflected in any meaningful way to Apple's fincial status.

 

[Oyeve]

Apple licensed to a company called Laser (I believe that was the name) to make macs, oh, about 23 or so years ago. I remember having one. It was a POS. The macs back then were POSes too but the clones were horrendous. Didnt last long. Let Apple be Apple and let PCs be PCs. Actually, I still have an old computer mag that has adverts for them. Something to the tune of 4500 bucks or so. Also, 286 systems were like 3500 bucks! Without vid cards or HDs. Ahh, the old days.

 

[vailr]

There was also the "Be Box" Apple clone machine.
The choice of operating systems was: BeOS; or Mac OS 7 (or: 8?).

 

[gwag]

Apple already did this for 6 years motorola and a company called power computing sold macs. all it did was hurt apples profits it was the first thing Steve Jobs pulled the plug on when he returned. I do think apple could do better out of the hardware business given the high cost low return on hardware and the state of Windows today activation, privacy, viruses, spyware- hyjack this that and the other thing ohh and vista still a year or two behind osX. it is unlikely to happen steve is two stubborn since they can run windows now there marketshare will continue to grow, and you may be able to run most windows apps in OSX without even running windows ala a whine type environment.

 

[chcarnage]

Gartner consultants were among the fiercest warners of Y2K bug catastrophes. It's a shame how little grip many analysts have on IT. Sometimes a random comment on Slashdot is better advice, really.

Some things this Gartner consultant should have asked before giving his opinion:

Why did Apple end the clone license policy? Answer: Clone makers didn't offer new markets but ate into Apple's own sales volume, and they didn't make the Mac brand more attractive because clone makers used similar or lower quality components.

What new "distribution infrastructure" could Dell offer? Apple ships to the entire continent with its internet shop. Other than Apple, Dell does not have flagship stores. And I don't think it's a safe bet that normal Dell sellers would put a MacinDell in their shop-windows just because Dell offers them. By the way, how many iPods were sold via the Dell online store? Not that many, I think.

Also, further streamlining of the production process puts the form factor of Apple's machines at risk and to Joe Sixpack this hallmark is an important eyecatcher since he has no idea what "OS X" is.

Some other reasons why the Gartner analyst's idea is idiotic can be found in the comment section here.


// Speaking of Slashdot: Link with even more comments for the not convinced
And another Link for those still in doubt