Let’s discuss Apple.

In light of the recent MacWorld introductions — as well as the ill-timed(?) recommondation to “sell” Apple (Merrill Lynch, I think) — now is as good a time as any.

Let look at some facts:

• Apple recently introduced some new products; nothing revolutionary (like the iPod or iMac), but worth discussing.
• Apple was recently downgraded to “sell” by a major brokerage firm.
• Apple currently holds about 2-3% of the desktop market; this number is probably way lower in the server market.
• Apple may lose it’s No. 2 ranking this year for the desktop market, falling behind Linux.
• Apple continues to draw both attention (of tech in general) and high praise (from many respected tech individuals). It also is still “the cult of Mac” — it has the strongest (or most vocal) community of any tech product/area that I can think of.

All of this — to me — would usually point to a company that is either doomed or doomed to fade away to the fringes at best. Maybe it’s really cool, really ahead of the curve or what have you, but it doesn’t have a sustainable business model.

Yet I could have said the same thing last year, the year before and so on.

Probably could say it again next year.

Yet Apple keeps on chugging away. Not doing well, not really moving forward (business wise), but remainig a touchstone for innovation, fanaticism and portents of what may come in the rest of the market.

What — to me — was interesting about Reality Distortion Field Job’s keynote addess were the following:

• Hardware introductions: The smaller PowerBook was nice, but the big one — as sexy as it is — just doesn’t work for me. Too big for travel (“uh, can I borrow part of your [airline] seat tray to put my computer on??”), and if you’re at work, the iMac still works. But there is something compelling about Job’s statement that the desktop is going away, notebooks are going to take over. With the increasing capabilities of notebooks, this may soon come to pass. Two comments, however: 1) Does Mac have a docking station/port replicator? Sorry, big keyboard and monitor are essential for many, especially at the office. 2) Notebooks are a lot easier to rip off than desktops (especially the ones with CRTs). No mention of this phenomenon.
• Logos: Did you see the logo for the iLife product (suite of tools for movies, tunes etc)? Interlocking puzzle pieces….like the interlocking puzzle pieces in Microsoft’s Office suite? Apple is beginning an almost direct attack on MS. The intersting part — to me — is that while tech writers/bloggers have picked up on the “Apple is distancing itself from MS” concept, I’ve read no mention of the logos. This is very subtle but … telling. To me. Discuss.

    

• Keynote software: Looks slicker than PowerPoint, but….what’s the point? I’m sure all Mac users will begin to use this, but…do I really care about a slicker version of PowerPoint? No. PP is for getting a point across. I don’t care….BUT this is another example of Apple going after MS (other was logo).
• Browser/Safari: Actually, this one — while making no sense — makes sense. Huh? Browsers are bloated, and while I’m not a Mac user now, I’ve heard not good things about IE on the Mac. Why not have a new browser? Will not make Apple a fortune, but it will very quickly become the predominate Mac browser. Trust me. And it will, in a very indirect way, force MS to improve both its Mac and PC browsers, to get them faster and more standards compliant. The one thing I really like about Safari is that it runs like I have my IE customized: No fluff, few buttons, as much screen as possible. I wonder if this type of customization is available on the Mac version of IE; I would guess so… Also, what did this cost Apple? Very litte. Built on KHTML, some engineers/programmers and that’s it. New browser. EXCEPT for the lack of tabbed browsing (appaling for new browser intro, like debutting a word-processor without spell check), very promising. And — giving Apple’s tradition of improving/extending the UI intelligently, it bears watching. NOTE: The QuickTime interface, to me, is a nightmare (see askTog, it’s not just me) — I hope they don’t go this way with Safari. I doubt they will, but….