A lot of people have been buying budget net books with dirt cheap Atom Intel processors that, with a few tweaks, can load and run Apple's new Snow Leopard operating system just fine. Imagine that, a functional $300 Apple laptop that fits in a ladies handbag and holds an eight hour battery charge. Apple just issued a patch that, among other things, disables Atom processors.
What does this tell you? No matter how much you like Apple hardware, Apple is primarily a software company, that produces a line of operating systems, not a hardware company, whose products are indispensable to the computing experience. Their stuff is good but has shortcomings and is overpriced.
Once you understand this, you will realize that the stock is way overpriced. I'm sure that somebody will figure out a way around Apple's interdiction of non native hardware and that they will then issue another lockout. The beat goes on. I'm also sure that there are really smart guys, maybe even in a garage somewhere, working to create a better operating system than either Apple or Microsoft provides, that can be run on any cheap, throwaway machine you can buy down at Radio Shack, on sale for a couple of hundred dollars. When that happens, both Apple and Microsoft are going to be quickly ushered off the stage. They both have their devoted partisans but most of us are ruled by our wallets.
Think about that when you buy their stock. It could be a more costly purchase than any chi-chi Mac Book Pro you might be lusting after.
2 comments:
People in general don't care about what operating system the computer uses. Sure, Apple has made some money pitching their OS as a boutique item, and the various Linuxes all have their cultish adherents, but in general all someone cares about is whether the machine will run Call Of Duty or not.
Of course, I've been programming since 1978 so I may be a bit jaded.
As a non techie in computerland, who has had to use Microsoft at work and Apple at home, I find Apple to be much more intuitive and user friendly. The cost of Apple products are outrageous. I buy old and used.
I'm sure somebody can and will do better.
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