The iPod Division: A Harbinger For the Demise of The Mac?
Could the recently created iPod division at Apple be a sign that the creation and sale of Mac computers could be coming to an end? Seems doubtful. But a recent article by Robert X. Cringely makes the argument that, if Apple’s porfits begin to wane more and they make the “budget friendly” switch over to the intel processor, then there is a posibility Mac computers could be reaching the end of the line.
I’m not saying this is going to happen, but I think it will happen if Apple has any trouble at all maintaining its margins under the current strategy. Absolutely look for the rape of the resellers, and then MAYBE look for the end of Macintosh hardware. But iPods and iTunes will be everywhere, even here in Charleston, which has a Target store, but is more than 100 miles from the nearest Macintosh dealer.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’m skeptical that this will happen any time soon, but if Apple could get OS X (or whatever they are on too when and if the switch happens) to run on an Intel or AMD machine I would be ok with that. But I would hope that some hardware company would take the torch from Apple and make cool, nice, great working hardware…Sony maybe?
Article Link: Divide and Conquer: Why Apple Has an iPod Division