Might Apple Want Out Of The Hardware Business?

Over the weekend I was visiting a good friend talking about Apple (AAPL). We’re both recent converts over to the Apple camp and between us we have PowerBooks, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, an iMac and even an AppleTV.

After the usual chatter about the iPhone our attention drifted back to computers. Mainly because I need another one because I now need to run Excel on Windows and have a PowerBook G4. As we considered the alternatives it started to paint a sort of tired old picture. This was especially true when I actually picked up MacBook and felt how heavy it was for what it is.

Even Mac fans are drooling over the latest 1.7lb Thoughbooks despite their WinTel association. I know there are plenty of examples of Apple HW innovation and all that but the overall ring is still a little hollow.

Clearly Apple has invested a huge amount of time, attention and resources in the iPod, iTunes and now the iPhone. We can’t blame it at all but it starts to beg the question about how it's going to allocate things going forward. Maybe it would turn the hardware over to major Asian manufacturers and maintain control of the software and aspects of the reference architecture while allowing innovation around the hardware itself.

The recent name change, removing the long-standing "Computer" from the Apple brand, just adds a little more edge to the thought.

Comments

[Julian Ivan...:]

Christ ... to paraphrase a famous tennis player, "YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS."

For the record, Apple doesn't manufacture any of its own hardware products but subcontracts it all to Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers already.

I don't really understand what you're trying to say...?

The iPhone is the iPhone, the Mac the Mac and the iPod the iPod because Apple products are Apple through and through, from the hardware to the software to the OS to the GUI. Its the key differential between Apple products and everyone else.

Please go and think about this some more. Then let us know what you really mean. Sorry to sound a bit sarcastic, but that wasn't a terribly useful article.

2007 Jul 10 09:39 AM

[Tom B:]

"Even Mac fans are drooling over the latest 1.7lb Thoughbooks despite their WinTel association."

Let me think this through: 1.7 lb laptop in hand; Windows Vista dragging me down into bubbling hell like the La Brea tar pits dragging down a Saber Tooth tiger. No thanks.

2007 Jul 10 01:02 PM

[peter02l:]

I asked a bunch of Mac fans and they assured me the drooling was just what followed after the vomit.
Most Mac users are satisfied to use Excel for Mac. But why try to run Excel for Windows on a Powerbook G4 if by your admission you already own MacBooks and MacBook Pros?

2007 Jul 10 01:10 PM

[Camden:]

This guy is clueless in his understanding of what makes Apple great.

2007 Jul 10 04:01 PM

[Daniel Carr...:]

The article raises a legitimate point that Apple needs a replacement for the 12" PowerBook G4. Any subnotebook/tablet rumor sets off an explosion of excitement at the rumor sites.

The idea that Apple would abandon allow some Asian company to *design* the hardware is pretty ludicrous. Apple doesn't want to be a software company–and when a Mac stops looking like a Mac, Apple's margins will start looking like Dell's.

Please correct the Toughbook typo.

(And as an aside, Excel 2007 for windows is pretty amazing. LivePreview + conditional formatting make spreadsheets so much better. Hoping Office 2008 for Mac brings over this functionality.)

2007 Jul 11 01:01 AM

[daniel murray:]

With these free emails from Alpha it is true, You get what you pay for. Some of this content for content's sake is better left as mindless musing. Remember they all are selling soap.

2007 Jul 11 05:12 AM

[econgdon:]

Apple is not a competotor to Micropsoft either, in the accepted way, as many non Apple people sem to think.. Microsoft write software for Apple and the team in miscrosoft who do it are all Apple geeks !! Gates originally worked for Apple, he may also be an Apple geek. The team that write software for Macs are not the same Microsoft team that write for PC's ( a misnower but we are stuck with it) "Word" originally was a program writen for Apple Computers !! Hopefully, It will be the rest of the market that eventually rolls over to use Apple products rather than vice-versa. This above article is written by someone who is a "recent convert" but not obviously yet completely informed.

2007 Jul 11 01:27 PM

[Neil Anderson:]

If you want a Toughbook in order to run Excel, go for it.

2007 Jul 11 09:13 PM