On Mar 14, 2010, at 4:47 PM, Kevin Walzer wrote: > You actually think Apple will shut down the Mac, a lucrative division > that has seen significantly increasing sales in recent years?
Apple is renowned for quickly cutting off "old" technology. They're in no way afraid of just killing things that they consider obsolete. (And increasing Mac sales or not, iPhone OS sales are increasing much faster.) A hardware example is that the iPod mini was selling like hotcakes, and they just canceled it in favor of their new iPod nano. Or more directly applicable in the OS arena, Mac OS X was released in 2001 (for the desktop), and Classic support ended as far as shipping products go when no more PowerPC machines were sold, in 2006. That's 5 years to entirely discontinue support for an entire OS, well within the "a few years" + "a few years" I commented on. If Apple feels like iPhone OS variants are the future, I have no doubt they're entirely capable of phasing out the Mac. > It seems to me that the iPad is a different beast than the Mac. Absolutely, and I said just that as to why it's going to be a few years at least, until they come out with a "Pro" variant on the OS. > The Mac remains wide open, and that's > where I'm targeting my growth. I don't think the Mac will ever end up locked down technologically, like iPhone OS based devices. My main concern is how long the platform will exist and/or be business-viable. However, even if you don't buy that the trajectory of Apple's actions points to the Mac being increasingly marginalized and phased out, there's another question worth thinking about. When 10.7 introduces the Mac App Store, which quickly becomes the de facto way to get software on the Mac too, is your Mac business going to be viable not playing that game? > I'll develop on Windows if I have to, but I'd rather not. Agreed. And the awkward and primitive nature of web development isn't particularly thrilling either. Best, br -- Benjamin Rister President, Decimus Software, Inc. http://decimus.net/
