tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12588999860471804492024-02-20T02:19:05.281-08:00I|OAbout All Things AppleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-90324904130748685352015-11-12T14:50:00.001-08:002015-11-12T14:52:11.070-08:0010 Reasons Why Macs Still Face Headwinds in the Enterprise<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">
I write this as a Mac fan. I fell in love with the Mac in 1984. We only use Apple technology in our home. But when it comes to the business world, the story is completely different. I have used Macs in a strictly PC world for over a decade and in that time, Apple has made some great strides but there are still reasons why this is difficult.</div>
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Some are pointing to IBM's decision to deploy hundreds and thousands of Macs instead of their usual Lenovo Thinkpads (which used to be IBM Thinkpads)as a reason that all companies should consider switching NOW. IBM does claim that they are saving $270 per Mac deployed when all costs are considered. But that is not the whole story nor can it be everyone's story, so here are my observations from my experience. Your mileage may vary.</div>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>Lack of vision. IT makes purchasing decisions on PC-only software that requires work-arounds or virtual machines for Mac users. IBM has had years of weaning themselves off Microsoft dependency so making the transition was far easier. Ironically, Microsoft is leading the charge to making more and more of their enterprise software browser-based and platform agnostic which is the way the world is going. Change or die is the current thinking. Hopefully this platform agnostic vision of software becomes widespread.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>Some vertical software is core to a business is so complex, so based on legacy code that it is too costly to update or modernize. However, these types of solutions are at risk from newer upstarts that have a cross platform solution that can more easily embrace a "do business anywhere" approach that the legacy software cannot do at all, or cannot do effectively.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>IT does not look at the total cost of ownership like IBM did. They only look at up front costs. IBM added up the numbers (based on their own experience) and discovered there are huge savings to be had. Fortunately, because Apple is such a big buyer of flash drives, the cost difference for Apple notebooks using solid state drives has dramatically narrowed, and in some cases (hello Surface Book) can be significantly cheaper.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>IT only has deployment and management tools that are PC only or have limited Mac functionality. This means that IT cannot take the same assembly line approach with Macs as they do with PC's. IBM invested in deployment tools that fully clone Macs (and they discovered it's much easier than PC's particularly when it came to license codes) so they can have mass deployments even easier than PC's.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>IT cannot lock down Macs as they do with PC's so they are always worried about this non-compliant situation. This is partly due to the fact that they may not have effective tools to manage the security of Macs but it's also due to the philosophical difference that Apple expects people to have more control over their computer and makes it easier for the end-user to maintain. Control freaks can't deal with this but IBM has discovered that even with this freedom, support calls are WAY down.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>IT doesn't know Mac functionality and still carry outdated biases. Some people in IT still don't know that for years, Macs have been able to support Active Directory, LDAP, access network shares, access SharePoint, have Microsoft Office (including Outlook), use network printers, have built-in encryption, has built-in VPN clients, and natively can connect to an Exchange server for email, calendars, contacts, notes and tasks - without changing their environment. Even if they know the strides Apple has made, they don't know how to use a Mac so why embrace the unknown?</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>IT knows they won't get fired for using Microsoft. IBM's numbers might look good for a mobile workforce buying highly functional laptops, but will they be the same for a highly structured call center buying $600 Mac Minis over a $299 box PC that is highly locked down and only the most basic features used?</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>IT standards and policies were written with PC's in mind. Because Macs do some tasks differently, they are automatically non-compliant even though they can easily achieve the goal of the policy. In larger organizations, policies have to be updated to include how Macs can achieve these goals where they differ than a PC.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>Poor presentation. IBM took a professional, structured approach to implementing Macs in their business. At first it was more of a "use at your own risk" but when it came to the momentous decision, they looked at the numbers hard and likely made an dispassionate presentation on why it makes corporate sense. Walking into the CIO's office requesting that some user on the second floor wants to use a Mac is probably going to get shot down. This approach requires not only vision casting but hard data. This is what I have always done - justifying the Mac as a tool rather than a personal choice. Thankfully, IBM is providing some hard data and a story that is just too hard to ignore.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>Non-standards-compliant implementations. Sloppy and incomplete implementations of software (going from secure to non-secure form), incomplete security certificates and other shortcuts often don't cause any issues when using a PC but can choke a Mac that is expecting things to be done in a compliant way. What IT leaders need to know that doing these things benefits the entire organization. For instance, if a web application uses https:// but it connects to another resource that only uses http://, that is a big security hole. Internet Explorer allows it on a site-by-site basis. Apple's Safari does not because it's bad design and a big risk. Firefox and Chrome allow it by jumping through some hoops. But fixing it benefits everyone in having a more secure environment.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>There may be other reasons why Macs struggle in an enterprise but as Tim Cook noted last year, the Bring Your Own Device movement is here to stay and Apple is leveraging that tremendously. That Microsoft's new CEO is embracing this and trying to build products that win on competence in an open market is a testament to that truth.</li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span>Hopefully, it won't be too long before your employer gives you the choice or at least finds it acceptable to accommodate your computing platform of choice.</li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-84333195735758067092009-10-20T14:55:00.000-07:002009-10-20T15:26:41.235-07:00Snow Leopard Rocks<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I love Snow Leopard. Well, almost everything. It's very smooth most of the time and there are some very nice features to it. But there are a couple of niggling things that I've sent feedback to Apple about and you might want to as well. Here are some of the things that I hope they fix in an upcoming update:</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><b>Default Calenders in iCal</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">I use Mail, iCal, and Address Book to connect to our company's Exchange Server. However, when a third party application downloads a .ics file you cannot choose which calendar to add it to. When you open the ics file, it adds the event to the Home calendar and then you have to choose which calendar to add it to.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">Why not add a dialog box asking you which calendar you want to assign it to if you have more than one or allow you to choose a default calendar when adding events outside of Mail.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><b>No Address Book Respect</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">Because I use Mail for work, I get emails from new people that I want to add to my Exchange Contacts list. But when you add a contact for Mail, it goes to your All Contacts general category rather than to my Exchange Contacts category. As a result, I have to launch Address Book and manually add it to Exchange and then delete it from the general category.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">If Mail is going to be used in the corporate environment, it should respect corporate assets.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><b>VPN Support through Cisco</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">One of the things that got me excited about Snow Leopard is the ability to use built in VPN to access a Cisco Concentrator so I wouldn't have to use Cisco's client. When you use Cisco's client and you want to reboot your machine, the client will present a dialog box awaiting user input and will cancel any reboot.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">Apple's VPN connection does not do that and it is very fast to connect. The problem with Apple's client is that in the first release of Snow Leopard, using the VPN client would allow for the resolution of internal server names at work. However, when 10.6.1 was released, I lost that functionality. Now I have to add our domain extension to server names just so that it would know which server to connect to. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">The funny thing is, when I go back to Cisco's client, I can resolve server names again but it's giving me problems with accessing outside Internet locations.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">I think that this would be a small fix on Apple's part that would help a lot of users in the corporate space.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><b>Firmware problems</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">Quite a few Snow Leopard users have experienced the slowness issue where their Mac will suddenly freeze for 10-30 seconds and then become responsive again. QuickTime movies will often stutter or suddenly stop for a few seconds. It's frustrating for sure. A PRAM reset helped (search Apple's online support for what that means) but a number of users of newer Macs reported that performing an EFI Firmware downgrade helped.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">Well I tried it and it worked. No more pauses. Apple then released a new version of the EFI firmware which I tried. Pauses came back. I downgraded again and the pauses have all but literally disappeared. If you have to know, my brand new 15.4" aluminum core MacBook Pro is running version 1.6 and all seems to be fine.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">But overall, I still love Snow Leopard. The fan rarely comes on. It just seems so powerful that it brushes off whatever I throw at it. Even launching a virtual machine while watching a movie didn't even cause a hiccup. And this is while driving a second external monitor.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;">I'm sure that the coming patches will eliminate these few pesky problems and make the Mac experience so much better.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-71128159889725402132009-07-16T14:15:00.001-07:002009-07-16T14:57:58.047-07:00New MacBook Pro<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">My employer was very generous in finally providing me a new MacBook Pro (2.53 MHz, SD slot) for my work computer which has been an amazing yet sometimes puzzling computer.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">First of all, it's just beautiful and sleek. When you feel it, touch it, and use it, you feel like it's a high quality device. No wonder Apple make a big deal over the solid core aluminum construction. It looks almost like a piece of art. Rather than the "putting lipstick on a pig approach by many PC assemblers," Apple made it different down to the core (forgive the double entendre). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">When you open the lid from sleep, you hear a sight "whoosh" as the fans briefly cycle - you feel like you should hold your breath for a moment because using this thing is a special privilege.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">Second - this thing is QUIET!!!! Sorry to shout that. I've done all kinds of things with it and the fans have never come on that I've heard them running. You can't imagine how golden that silence is until you try it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">Third - it's fast. Really fast. Even with running FileVault the computer seems so smooth. Nothing seems to faze it. That should change once I get on our corporate encryption solution which doesn't store your home folder as a single file like Apple does.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">Fourth - the screen is very bright. I was able to use it in a vehicle on a bright sunny day. I did pick up a little glare off the glossy monitor (which I love - so deep and lustrous) but it was much more usable than my trusty old laptop (which my son was thrilled to have use of now).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">Fifth - the battery life is stunning. While typing out documents in Word on a flight, after 30 minutes the battery monitor still said I had 7:41 remaining. That is a coast to coast flight with room to spare. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">Now the bad stuff - occasionally when I hook up a new external monitor or projector, the laptop takes some time to recognize the device. Once or twice, even when hooking up a familiar external monitor, it froze. My old MacBook Pro never did that. I think there is a little bit of Mac OS X sorting that needs to occur. Maybe that's the difference between ATi and NVidia. Good thing I had my Dr. Bott gHead II adapter that saved me in a customer presentation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">In fact, while on a flight back from Texas, I sat next to a guy that had the first 17" solid aluminum MacBook Pro and he had the same issue so he was glad to discover that there was such a thing. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">The only other thing was that I wish Apple's Active Directory plug-in was better. In our network environment, even being binded to the network doesn't force me to change my overall password and I still have to enter in my password for certain services on our network. I'm going to try ADmit Mac which supposedly works a lot better. But that is not a hardware issue.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">Someone once said that "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." My three year old MacBook Pro was a great joy to use and still kept up with even the new laptops that were being issued. It runs like it has years left in it and still looks great. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;">But this new one has raised the bar even further. It's like you're in a whole 'nother world or category of computing.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-31691056651656868612009-07-16T13:39:00.000-07:002009-07-16T14:11:25.670-07:00Microsoft Retail Stores<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, fantasy; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div>Microsoft has announced that they will be rolling out new retail stores, some in proximity to Apple stores, to create a physical presence in the consumer space. If Microsoft's aim is to copy Apple's, I think that they will be in for a very rough ride. </div><div><br /></div><div>Apple's brand image is one of high quality which is the reason why they choose "highstreet" locations. The brick and mortar stores reflect their brand and the entire experience is designed to make you feel special. And Apple's stores generate a profit and are self-sustaining. In fact, they were the fastest chain to hit $1 billion in sales.</div> Microsoft, while running the current Laptop Hunters ad campaign, is creating a low cost, every day commodity brand, more like WalMart, less like Crate & Barrel. So opening stores in high street areas, if that is their intent, is incongruous with the image that they are brandishing. The other issue that Microsoft will have is how are they going to generate revenue at their stores? Their only mass market hardware are accessories. They aren't going to sell millions of Windows 7 at retail - there just isn't enough there to excite consumers. Not only that, but because people view Windows as a commodity, it's very difficult for them to sell a lot at retail like they did with Windows 95 that we perceived as something completely new and different. They spent $6 billion to develop Vista that was commonly panned and uninstalled and with the way Apple positioned Snow Leopard's pricing, it probably affected their ability to charge full tilt</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, fantasy; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">They certainly won't sell hardware, at least not directly because of its OEM customer base. Maybe they will sell all kinds of retail software titles and games. But those dedicated stores pretty much died in the 90's. Apple offers something you can't get anywhere else. Microsoft has to do the same if they want to stand out.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, fantasy; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">I'm not privy to their strategy but I hope it is a good one. Even though I'm an Apple fan, it's great to see an American business investing in America. Millions of people depend on the Microsoft economy. My concerns for the company are that it may not generate self-sustaining revenue or will it be a drag on the balance sheet. Microsoft's appetite to buy businesses, competition, and invest in all kinds of products that don't pay for themselves will eventually hurt the company.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is rumored that the only two divisions that generate positive revenue and carries the company are its Windows and Office products. Windows continues to see erosion, particularly in the consumer space hence the ad campaign and announcing stores. Office is also taking heat from Google, to IBM, to iWork, to open source alternatives, to people who stick with the old version because the new version does not offer enough value and the unfamiliar ribbon interface. Now Microsoft is going to offer a free, online, scaled down version of Office. You can bet that for the average home user, this will be more than enough for everyday purposes. I bet advertising is going to have to make up for lost revenue in box sales of Office.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So if more of Microsoft's offerings are moving to the cloud like Google, why are they investing in retail store fronts like Apple?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe they have such a futuristic experience planned that people will want to go into to really be wowed. I just haven't seen that cohesive thinking out of Microsoft lately except when it comes to Bing - and you can't ring that up at the checkout counter.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, -webkit-fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-86764440728401612342008-03-13T16:37:00.000-07:002008-03-13T21:06:19.095-07:00AppleTV PVR - Please!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">We recently bought a nice 42" LCD TV with 1080i resolution and also wanted to replace our aging VCR with new technology to record TV shows just like our old TV, except we want it in HD at the same broadcast resolution.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">You know what? We couldn't find anything!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">We didn't want something that creates more media to store like a DVD recorder because you lose HD capability with those and a lot of them still have analog tuners in them. Not to mention the problems I've heard with so many devices. And no Blu-ray either even though it might have great resolution - I don't want to invest in media. Period.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">What we wanted was something that recorded in HD up to 1080i resolution with a digital tuner AND NO MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION FEES! I don't want pay TiVo, Dish, or anyone else monthly fees. I can look up schedules myself and use an on-screen menu to setup the recording time. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">And I don't want something to hook up to my Macs either - I'm using it too much for other things. I'm looking for a simple appliance with no manual required from a trusted brand. No box building for me.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">It has been reported <</span></span><a href="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/13/apple_tv_dvr_interface_revealed_in_patent_filings.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">> that Apple has filed a patent for a DVR like device. If Apple released an AppleTV that could record TV shows in HD with a 1080 widescreen HD digital tuner WITHOUT subscription fees, I would pony up plastic right now! And it wouldn't bother me if they had to add a couple more buttons to the remote to make it happen. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-44255793365694197002008-02-25T18:22:00.000-08:002008-02-25T21:17:20.178-08:00Why the iPhone Won't Kill Apple<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">You go two steps into a mild economic slowdown with Apple predicting a softening of sales and analysts all around are crying "the sky is falling" or the iPhone will kill Apple. Sometimes I get real tired of the nonsense that people write.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">First of all, unlike other consumer products such as the XBox, Apple could halt production today, sell off the remaining supply, and walk away from the iPhone and probably generate a profit, or at worst, a negligible loss. That is a great position for Apple to be in. If the iPhone were to suddenly become a disaster, it might hurt the stock short term but it wouldn't take the company down. And Apple doesn't need to dominate the market either. With the way that they have structured the iPhone transaction, they could be very profitable with only a small slice of the market.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">Second, Apple has a range of options to respond to market conditions. They could drop the price to the fire sale level and dilute the iPhone brand (never happen) or simply reduce manufacturing orders for now as they gauge demand. In addition, Apple can do what it did during the last downturn - innovate. By continuing to drive value by adding features and functionality to the iPhone, they build demand for it, even if some of that demand is pent up until disposable incomes or discretionary dollars are available. One thing is certain, Apple is not acting like a company whose sales are desperately low.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">Third, Apple has a host of delivery channels for the iPhone that have yet to be explored. The business market has not fully embraced it for a number of reasons that I won't go into here. But suffice to say, solving just a few of those issues could open up significant demand in the business sector without having to compromise the device. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">Apple hasn't fully explored its Best Buy relationship either which could realize significant bump in sales just from having the iPhone on display but with iTunes activation, the buying process is simplified. And there are a bunch of high street retailers that Apple could chose from to sell the iPhone.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">The international market is barely tapped potential. The release of a 3G model would be a boon to the international market, which has much more density in 3G coverage than in the US. Sometimes, it's a detail like this that can move a product from being a "cool device" to a "must-have device". </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">Fourth, the release of the SDK (software development kit) should provide a wealth of third party applications that provide tremendous functionality or entertainment value. While other smart phones can already do this, none have been able to do it with the panache and interface of the iPhone.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">Fifth, it's the only device out there that does the music and movie stuff right. Competitive offerings typically are a hodgepodge of services and features that don't work seamlessly together. Most of these boiled down to nothing more than schemes to line the pockets of the wireless providers. Remember the $2.50 song download that could only be done on the phone, not synced from a computer, and the quality of the song was lower than the $0.99 version from iTunes? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';">Because of all these things, I don't have any long term doubt about the iPhone even though there might be some short-term softness in demand. However, I think we'll all be surprised when Apple announces their next quarter's results.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-72320943476943465392008-02-17T13:57:00.000-08:002008-02-17T15:09:02.334-08:00Apple + Sony + Yahoo = Merger SchmergerThe blogsphere is all abuzz about Apple buying out Yahoo or Sony as potential targets to spend its warchest of $18 billion or whatever it is now.<div><br /></div><div>Pure bunk I say.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have yet to see anyone present a viable case where Apple would receive real value for any of those acquisitions. Both of these companies would endure a tremendous amount of culture clashing and probably would end up being worth less than the sum of their parts.</div><div><br /></div><div>Don't believe me? Go to Yahoo!'s website and see if it reflects the clean minimalism that Apple loves to portray. Not even close. And it's too far away from Apple's core business to make sense. </div><div><br /></div><div>The same goes for Sony, although their US website is pretty clean with nice flash. But Sony's business is so diversified that I think it would choke Apple's creativity to work through the multi-layered corporate structure at Sony.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Apple's acquisitions tend to be small companies where they can integrate a product or technology seamlessly into the ecosystem that they are building. That has been Apple's strategy since Steve Jobs came back in 1997. It's more than selling a computer or iPod. It's about a total user experience that pulls the pieces together in a transparent fashion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Witness Apple's deal with AT&T and the iPhone, then Starbucks, and then those two companies band together to provide valuable Wi-Fi across the country that increases the value proposition of owning an iPhone. It's this kind of thinking that is providing unique and valuable services to customers today as opposed to a hodge-podge of products and services that require a lot of tinkering on the customer side to get to work. And a pile of gobblely-gook to explain.</div><div><br /></div><div>Right now, Apple can use it's flush bank account to fund research and innovation through an economic downturn, exactly what they did last time. What could the next version of OS X, the next iPhone, or the next digital device do to bring more customers to their base? </div><div><br /></div><div>Apple is smart to stick to their guns and buy companies that add value to their core offerings. So let's end this merger talk and continue to root for a decent Exchange client for the iPhone.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-84856998533457848082008-02-05T07:23:00.001-08:002008-02-05T10:58:46.252-08:00iPhone for Business and Microsoft ExchangeI'm sitting down to catch a few rays from the tube last night and an iPhone ad comes on. Nothing unusual there. But what caught my attention was that the content being showed on the iPhone was directed at business users, not the consumer. I believe it was the "All These Years" ad but after seeing it today, somehow it looked different to me.<div><br /><div> </div><div>But in any case - I was struck at how this ad was really directed at the suits and how much of the recent iPhone developments are a perfect trifecta pointing at exactly that.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>First, you have AT&T creating a new iPhone add-on service plan for corporate accounts. </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>Second, the impending release of the SDK has business written all over it. In my mind, Apple would want to release the SDK with a lot of fanfare. Not fanfare in touting all the technical details but by trotting out new applications that they or third parties have developed. I'm betting that Microsoft Exchange connectivity will be one of them (and no Ethel, using IMAP is not an option for far too many users so let's not get into that argument). IBM is not hiding the fact that it's working on a Lotus Notes client for the iPhone and there have been others who are chomping at the bit to do the same.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>Third, in preparation for the onslaught, Apple releases a premium model that business users with a lot of disposable income or flush expense accounts will pick up. That extra storage space is not only good for all those movie rentals from iTunes, but forms a great sandbox spot for third-party applications and user storage space to reside. It also makes a great profit generating machine when the 8 GB models are sold out and some buyers will willingly pony up an additional $100 even though they hadn't planned on doing so.</div><div><br /></div><div>If this is truly the case, and that before the end of February we will see this kind of business connectivity, I would surmise that Apple has way underestimated it's next quarter results. No wonder the iPhone supply is considered volatile right now.</div><div><br /></div><div>I know a lot of salespeople in the company I work for would gladly front the cash to buy their own iPhone if true Exchange capability (ok, at least email and events) were part of the package. I did without Exchange support. But I wanted to buy before the rush.</div><div><br /></div><div>For the record, I have no insider information and everything concerning knowledge of Apple's and other entities' activities are freely available on the Internet or pure speculation on my part. I do own stocks in APPL so I prefer to be bullish. </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-40823201091682435732008-01-26T12:55:00.000-08:002008-01-26T13:22:50.709-08:00Macworld - the AftermathOkay, so a bunch of my predictions were off. I did hit the idea of the Slim Book (now known as the MacBook Air) although rumors of that were all over the blogsphere. But my guess was right that Apple would come up with an elegant solution and game changing idea to leave optical disks behind. <br /><br />And Apple certainly retooled it's AppleTV to support HD downloads like I imagined although I still wished that it had a digital tuner and could work as a DVR. I would gladly pay $299 for such a unit. But the call on iTunes HD was right on.<br /><br />The rest of the hardware in terms of MacBooks and MacBook Pros fell off the wagon - no updates to those. Nor anything in regards to the hardware of the iPhone or iPods. But this is the opening gates of 2008 and there are months to go where product refreshes and updates can make a huge difference.<br /><br />One thing that Apple is probably going to make a big splash over is the SDK (software development kit) for the iPhone. I'm betting with the release of the SDK, there will be a bunch of critical software releases, either by Apple or by other software developers.<br /><br />The one release I'm hoping for is the ability to synchronize with Microsoft Exchange in a secure way. I think that this will have a huge impact on business purchases and could blow the next quarter out. It will probably require a whole different Mail and Calendar application because I doubt that Apple will change their Mail application and iCal. This has been their approach because Exchange in some ways, competes with Apple's own server mail offerings.<br /><br />I don't know any details but I've heard rumblings that a solution is being worked on but I'm not sure if by Apple or Microsoft. And I don't know when.<br /><br />Either way, I hope very soon to be pleasantly surprised.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-73003255724778808582007-12-13T07:18:00.000-08:002007-12-13T09:10:56.919-08:00My Macworld PredictionsHere are my realistic expectations for MacWorld. These are speculative only. Don't make stock buying decisions or wait on purchasing an Apple product because of these. Only Apple really knows what they're going to do.<br /><br />iPhone<br />No 3G yet. Not until AT&T gets better coverage. Fact is, iPhone browsing works very well compared to other phones because it has a fast processor to render the web pages. I would expect announcements regarding third party application and possibly, Microsoft ActiveSync licensing which would speed up adoption amongst business users as a response to the overwhelming request for better Exchange support. Watch for a sizable bump in flash storage, and new features enabled as the device evolves. Maybe even something like an iChat client.<br /><br />MacBook Pro<br />New processors - maybe the new 45 NM Penryns for faster processing, longer battery life, cooler operation. Same case. Perhas an additional feature here or there but mostly evolutionary. A built-in flash drive to speed up boots and to extend battery life would be great.<br /><br />MacBook<br />I'm thinking evolutionary improvements here. Expect the new LCD screens. With the move for the iMac to aluminum and glass to be more environmentally friendly, the case of the MacBooks really are a sore thumb. An aluminum keyboard surface so you will have a white/aluminum or black/aluminum look would be very cool.<br /><br />Slim Book<br />I know a lot of people are talking about a flash driven, no optical drive notebook for $1,500. A flash drive that would work in conjunction with RAM to reduce hard disk swapping for extended battery life (and hard drive life too) and for faster booting is more plausible. But flash only? No way.<br /><br />We are at the cusp where optical drives can be dropped just as similar to the time when Apple dropped the floppy disk for the iMac. I'm betting that most of us don't use an optical drive for daily usage anymore. With being able to download most applications you buy or movies, having a low usage device take up so much internal space doesn't make sense anymore. Plus, it's one more mechanical thing that can go wrong which increases the cost of warranties and servicing.<br /><br />I would expect it to be part of the MacBook Pro line which is typically purchased by the more experienced and affluent user who would gladly trade the additional cost of an external DVD drive for better aesthetics. Look of amazement by those around the conference table when you pull out your ultra-thin notebook compared to the bricks and anchors<br /><br />iTunes<br />Here's wishing for HD video content that would look nice on my 42" LCD. <br /><br />AppleTV<br />Needs an update to drive adoption. Maybe HD content from iTunes will help. Also, if it could record from TV like a DVR it would be a lot more meaningful device. But, keep it at $299 and put a Blu-ray player in it (I prefer HD but Disney's stuff is on Blu-ray) and it would fly off the shelves. Or make it a Blu-ray/HD combo for $399. Now you're talking long lines at the checkout counter.<br /><br />The AppleTV then becomes a device that drives iTunes, iPod, and Mac adoption. Sort of a tail-wagging the dog thing like what the iPod did.<br /><br />iPod<br />Bigger flash memory in the iPod touch with similar third party application support as the iPhone. I would think iChat with voice support over Wi-Fi would be great, but don't expect it. <br /><br />Besides these products from Apple, look to see Microsoft Office being officially announced, as well as some other application that takes advantage of Leopard technologies.<br /><br />Well, that's my prediction list. Now we'll just have to wait and see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-22537984530833401412007-07-06T20:04:00.001-07:002007-07-06T20:25:59.228-07:00What Do You Want in Entourage 2008?The feature set in Entourage 2008 is done. All we're waiting for is the announcement and to get our grubby virtual fingers on the feature list.<br /><br />But it won't stop my from ruffling my feathers which I need to do from time to time as I get frustrated as the lone Entourage user among over 400 Outlook users.<br /><br />Out of Office - you know how many times I come back from a trip and forget that out of office is on, only to be questioned by a customer or another user as to my status? Let me turn it on or off from Entourae and warn me when it's on.<br /><br />Entourage Today - is there a simple way that I can see my InBox, appointments, and tasks in a single view. And let me add new tasks with one click. And while you're at it, make sure the tasks sync with Exchange too.<br /><br />Faster Syncing - is there a better way to sync so that it doesn't have to check all my subfolders all the time? Maybe the universal version will just work better for this. I don't know.<br /><br />Better certificate handling - why do I have keep clicking through root certificate errors when my PC brethren launch and load without any problems?<br /><br />Display Fonts! I have to set my fonts articifically large so that Outlook users see them at human oriented sizes? If I set my fonts to 10pts, only a Vulcan can read it, or someone with a magnifying glass. I know there is a difference between Mac and PC screen resolution rates. Can't we just all get along?<br /><br />HTML Display - you know how many times I get an email that looks great in Outlook but looks crappy in Entourage? Or I can't use the forward function to send an HTML email as it came to me (you have to forward as an attachment). Maybe they have this licked with the new rendering engine - I hope so!<br /><br />Word formatting - no, I don't want to use Word to format my emails - but if it works great as a universal version, I can live with it. But for now, when others use Word to format their signature in Outlook, I get extra spaces between the lines. And the messages I receive don't always turn out right. All we ask is the Word and Entourage people have lunch together with their PC counterparts. Maybe a napkin agreement can put an end to this.<br /><br />Stationery - I don't use stationery because it just takes up unnecessary bandwidth although once in a while, for a special occasion, it would be nice to use it. Or when someone sends me an email from Outlook with stationery, I wish it would not only look right, but when I reply to the email, it doesn't go all funky.<br /><br />Colors. You know, Entourage is pretty plain looking. Although I prefer understated looks, Entourge could use a little more blush and lipstick. I actually don't mind the bolder separator bars in Outlook. Maybe add some Leopard looking pizzazz (just not spotted fur themes OK?). I'm sure you can do it tastefully without making it appear tawdry.<br /><br />iCal syncing options. I need something to protect Entourage from wiping out all it's entries when you delete the synced calender in iCal. Happened to me once. And now I'm getting 4 or five copies of the same event as well. Finally, I just shut the thing off because it was a pain to manage. <br /><br />Resource management - when I want to reserve a meeting room that is setup as a calendar, it works great doing it in Outlook. Doesn't work too well in Entourage. And if you set the meeting up from the meeting room calendar, your own calendar doesn't reflect the meeting. <br /><br />Meeting notices - okay - when i get a meeting notice, I would like to know what my calendar looks like before accepting or declining meeting. Maybe they don't need that on Mars but here on Earth, we can't be in two or three places at once. If someone wants to double or triple book a time slot, well, they can do that. But most of us prefer to maintain saner schedules. <br /><br />Well - what would you like to see in Entourage 2008 or in a service pack? And please, no cussin'. Keep your remarks intelligent, concise, and to the point. The better our responses, the more Microsoft is likely to pay attention to our needs.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-27691462266018174382007-07-05T10:59:00.001-07:002007-07-05T12:28:58.520-07:00iPhone Disrupting Internet Explorer?A number of years back, I wrote for another website that in the corporate space, one of Apple's biggest problems is the many browser-based client software requires ActiveX and Internet Explorer. This effectively shuts out the Mac as a desktop client because those apps simply won't work unless something like Citrix or virtual technology is used. So much for browser clients being truly agnostic. <br /><br />And Microsoft likes it that way because it makes Microsoft money. It keeps businesses buying PC's with Windows installed. It keeps developers buying Microsoft development tools. And allows Microsoft to control the computing industry to suit its own goals. Any company in this position would likely do the same thing.<br /><br />So the only way for a competitor to change this is to come up with disruptive technology. And the iPhone is exactly that.<br /><br />The iPhone is a consumer device. But many stock brokers, doctors, insurance agents, realtors, corporate executives are going to buy this device. They will want this to be their primary device. They will show it to their friends. They will pull it out at meetings. They will want to access the same browser-based applications as they do on their PC because it comes with a full fledged browser. And they will be disappointed when they find out it won't work. And they will complain loudly. <br /><br />And the smart software companies will respond. The dumb ones will die out or be marginalized.<br /><br />As a backhanded move, Apple released Safari on Windows. I doubt that Apple thought that millions of web users will switch like they did with Firefox. Instead, it gave Apple an easy response to web application developers to make their web sites and browser client applications iPhone friendly. Which turns into Mac friendly. Which means more Macs sold in the corporate space without Apple having to launch a full frontal assault on their Redmond friendlies. <br /><br />It also means that more websites and developers will embrace open standards, or at least be forced out of lock-in relationships. Which brings competition and innovation. Which plays right into Apple's hands.<br /><br />Can you imagine a $250 iPhone in a year's time? There are people in multiple industries thinking of that very same prospect now and losing sleep over it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-25179625262254002922007-04-09T22:12:00.000-07:002007-07-05T10:33:13.714-07:00Best Buy and Apple MashupI've been pondering over the depth of this joint venture and it is quite scary what the future prospects are for consumer PC vendors.<br /><br />First of all, Apple's retail strategy is very strong but because they will only open stores in high rent districts, that still leaves a lot of areas uncovered. While someone on occasion may drive 80 miles to go to an Apple Store, that is not the ideal solution for most people.<br /><br />Enter Best Buy. Before you remind me of the start/stop relationship that Apple and Best Buy have had over the years consider the fact that Apple has entered this having experienced incredible retail success so they know better what to ask for and demand to sell their products. Second, Best Buy is losing foot traffic from CD's and needs to increase foot traffic. The foot traffic from a Mac buyer is very welcome because they typically are willing to spend more to obtain a quality item. Third, seling PC's is a tired, me-too business. You need differentiation.<br /><br />So the mashup between Best Buy and Apple seems at first glance to recreate the type of atmosphere, support, and quality buying experience that one has at an Apple Store, just on a smaller scale. With Best Buy's prowess, these types of stores could be opened up in all kinds of remote areas around the country where Apple can't justify a dedicated store front. Unlike previous efforts, Apple knows now how to train and develop staff to provide the kind of buying experience that they seek for the Macintosh.<br /><br />If this is the case, you can walk into a clean, uncluttered, environment where someone is going to give you an informed presentation of Apple's products and their value proposition, instead of steering you to some low end PC box stuffed with trialware. Or confusing the customer by presenting a row of gray and black boxes and varying price points and no real way for the consumer to determine comparative value.<br /><br />Done right, this parntership could be an extremely powerful combination. Certainly, Best Buy is touting this as the beginning of a change in their retail philosophy to match Apple's. Start with what the consumer really needs and then develop your products and services to solve that need. Apple's consumer driven approach has changed the music business, the retail computer business, potentially the cellular industry, and possibly the home media strategy. Why? Because it's apparent that they do things to benefit the customer. Competitors are often presented as doing things for purely profit or self-serving interests. <br /><br />With the kind of reach that Best Buy has beyond Apple's own stores, we could see a significant ratchet in market share in the retail space by Christmas time. No other PC vendor can demand that kind of exclusive arrangement because they are perceived as offering a commodity item.<br /><br />I just hope that my Best Buy is on the list.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258899986047180449.post-86360478790653728032007-04-09T21:05:00.000-07:002007-04-09T22:12:23.205-07:00Sea Change and Swatting BugsThere seems to be a sea change in what is going on in the personal computer industry these days. The resurgence, scratch that, resurrection of Apple, Inc. is nothing short of phenomenal. Consider these confluence of independent events that is creating a momentous shift in the technology landscape.<br /><br />From the top end, the technology industry elites are using Apple technology personally. These elites are often the trendsetters and forerunners that push down technology decisions. More and more companies are going through the exercise of considering Mac deployment - something that was very rare six years ago.<br /><br />The iPod and Apple's educational success has contributed at the bottom end by creating a young class of Mac users that are very creative, energetic, and free spirited that are entering the work force and want to stay with the technology tools that they have become accustomed to using. This puts further pressure on businesses to accomodate these young, talented professionals. More than one business manager has been convinced to allow Macs in their organzation after seeing some of the creative results that Mac users produced using the standard tools that came with their Mac.<br /><br />The middle thrust is the growth of Apple in the small to medium business market. Here, Apple has a much stronger presence than their overall 5% or 6% market share suggests. These businesses ask their software vendors for cross platform solutions. The software vendors not only have to build in Mac support, but also have to ask their integrated hardware devices for the same support. This also puts pressure on development tool suppliers to allow as much as possible, a single code-base for the core application with hooks for the various OS's that must be supported. Eventually, this may pull some developers from a Microsoft-only approach. <br /><br />There are of course, deeper issues that have caused these market forces to exist in the first place. But I wanted to illustrate what is happening the marketplace. Being in a staunchly PC industry myself, I am witnessing business that used to swat the idea of Mac support like an irritating fly to actually creating and promoting Mac support.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0