The Apple Macintosh celebrates its 25th anniversary as the company continues to dominate the technology industry.
But celebrity CEO Steve Jobs is not nostagically harking back to the early days and insists that if you look backwards in the software business, 'you get crushed.'
Here's what's amazing about the Mac as it turns 25, a number that in computer years is just about a googolplex: It can look forward.
The Mac's original competition-the green-phosphorus-screened stuff made by RadioShack, DEC, and then-big kahuna IBM-now inhabit landfills both physically and mentally.
But the Macintosh is not only thriving, it's doing better than at any time in its history. Much of the attention directed at Apple over the past few years has focused on new products like the iPod and the iPhone.
Click wheels and touchscreens have distracted industry analysts from the news that the Mac market share has quietly crept into double digits.
That's up from barely three per cent in 1997, just before the prodigal CEO returned to the fold after a 12-year exile.
What's behind this autumnal upswing? Apple COO Tim Cook lists six factors: better computers, better software, seamless compatibility with Windows, marketing acumen, successful retail stores, and the belly flop of Microsoft Vista.
Jobs called the company he came back to a 'beautiful Porsche speedster that had been sitting in a field. And it got really dirty, covered with mud.'
He slashed the product line, Picasso-ized the design, launched a wildly successful chain of retail stores, and turned the annual Apple keynote address into the high tech equivalent of a popcorn blockbuster.
Now industry experts await his next move as though Moses is about to part the waves and we can only predict that Apple Macs will continue to dominate the market.
Game, set and match for Medicash
(Thu 17/05)
Unique hospitality venue launched
(Mon 14/05)
Post a comment