After shaking up the computer world with sleek hardware designs,
Apple is finally getting serious about pushing the "other half" of
their business: software.
What's inside the box is essential to the Apple business, but it
is widely ignored in print and ad campaigns. After all, a curvy iMac
looks much better on a billboard or bus than a screen on icons and
menu bars.
Several articles, however, point out that hardware sales cannot
be driven by software. In a nutshell, iMovie might be a fantastic
piece of software, but it's not something that's likely to encourage
someone to drop some money on an iMac. Pretty much any mainstream
software available for the Mac can be had on the Windows
side. Granted, not all of the Windows equivalents are as polished
as Apple software, but the average user won't be able to tell the
difference.
While Apple would like software to drive hardware sales (and I'm
sure they're hoping it will happen), turning out killer apps for both
platforms may be the best way for Apple to generate revenue in the
long run.
iMovie is available only for Apple users. Would Apple benefit from
releasing a low-cost Windows version of the same software? iMovie
currently doesn't generate a lot of revenue for Apple. It's bundled
free with most new Macs, and Apple offers it as a $49 download to
other users, but I can hardly see this as one of their bigger sellers
- most Macs capable of using iMovie already have a free copy.
Offering a comparably priced Windows version would add to Apple's
bottom line and get users who wouldn't buy a Macintosh to contribute
to buy Apple-branded products.
If Apple released great apps that outperform competitors on both
platforms, the potential could be enormous. By most accounts, the
movie software bundled with Windows ME is a pale shadow of
iMovie.
Over time, if people in the Windows world use Apple software on a
regular basis, they may begin to wonder what they're missing. If the
software is so great, what's the rest of the system like? They may
greatly enjoy iMovie (or other Apple software products) and may then
take a look at OS X. They may reason that the great user experience
they have with Apple software may be extended to the operating
system. The only problem for them would be the fact that OS X only
runs on Apple hardware.
Stephen Van
Esch is the founder and president of
the
E-learning Foundry, an online training
resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual,
since he's also fluent in Windows and French.
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