What If Apple Did Sell Macs with Windows Pre-installed?
Apple may make jokes about Windows problems with viruses and other malware, but it has realized that the Microsoft fortress can be breached most easily with a Trojan Horse. And that is precisely what Apple intends to use to break through market barriers.
A pretend rumor (not surprisingly on the domain pretendpundit.com which redirects to PageOne Blog) circulated a couple of weeks back that Apple were doing a deal with Microsoft to sell Macs with Windows on them. Yeah, we all had a good laugh at that one. But maybe, just maybe, it’s not as dumb as it sounds.
Let’s consider a couple of things.
Who are the most popular PC vendors in the corporate market place? Dell and HP (IBM used to be among them).
Now, what do those three have in common? They are all what are called “tier-one” vendors. Tier-one vendors are known for superior product and service, and longevity (which will have built a recognizable and trustable brand). The easiest way to identify tier-one vendors is by who’s buying. The corporate world has for years bought Dell, HP/Compaq or IBM. Throw Toshiba in on the laptop market but the rest have been bit players in the corporate world.
Some people will protest that Dell doesn’t have a superior product. With four years experience of Dell at the height of its popularity in the first half of this decade, I can’t fault its hardware. That said, I was not buying entry-level home PCs. I can’t speak for the quality of Dell home PCs.
Add Apple?
Apple comfortably meets the requirements of a tier-one vendor. But until recently, it couldn’t compete in the tier-one market—the corporate world—because it didn’t have a Windows PC.
What if the Pretend Pundit/PageOne blog was right? Personally, that’s one snowball I don’t think will be tossed around the nether world, but let’s hypothesize. What if Apple did start selling Macs with Windows pre-installed and supported?
If that happened, IT Managers would consider them—provided Apple’s salesmen hit the road. So you might see a whole office kitted out with Macs yet never ever running OS X.
You might think that is bad. Really bad. But I might disagree. It’s good. Really good.
The Trojan Mac
Let’s face it: the corporate desk is going to have some vendor’s PC sitting on it and running Windows. So how could it harm the Mac’s existing user-base if Macs running Windows sat on corporate desks? That is a market in which Apple has no other way of getting worthwhile sales. (Anyone who thinks Macs with OS X are going to wipe out Windows in the corporate office… well… have I’ve got a used car for you.)
Where Apple wins though is in the exposure.
Imagine: Joe Bloggs (who doesn’t actually have a blog) sitting at his office desk, pondering what computer to buy, looks around and sees a sea of Macs. Macs are ok, he thinks, the office buys them…
This thought process was fundamental to Dell conquering the home market. I know of so many people who bought Dells as their home computer because that’s what they used at work. Dell’s became ubiqutous. That exposure created trust and security for the Mr. Bloggs of the world.
The IT Manager would set up the Mac so Windows boots without OS X ever getting a chance. But when Apple ships a Mac to the home user, even if Windows is pre-installed, OS X will be the default OS.
A lot of Joes won’t be able to resist. They will experiment with that other OS sitting on their shiny new Mac; they’ll tinker with iPhoto and Garageband. And they’ll be back. More and more often. Let’s say Joe tries to make a movie in Windows MovieMaker. It’s okay, but he wonders what iMovie would be like…
So despite in this imaginary scenario of Macs running Windows in the corporate office, it gets more Macs sold to home users, and over time, more and more people using OS X. It snowballs.
In the words of Professor John Frink “Ingle-hey, mwa-hey!”
So Apple selling Macs with Windows on them may not be as insane as first thought.
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Apple bundling in Vista into Mac Pros? It makes perfect sense! It is brilliant!
Like Don Corleone said in the Godfather, “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”. Make that “keep your enemies bundled in”.
To make this work, Apple has to release middle and lower tier versions of the Mac Pro in a mid-tower and a pizza-box desktop configuration. The workstation class MP is just kosher at the top end. Corporate customers like customization, selection, and best of all - they are downright cheapskates! The very reason Dell is the dominant corporate PC vendor and why HP have a hard time following.
Not that Apple can’t muster a competitive pricing structure to Dell’s. Notice the Mac Pro. It just surprised everyone’s expectations since launch comparing features-to-features and price points to a particular Dell model it is competing with.
So, yah, bundling XP or Vista on its corporate-bound workstations and servers is a sure way for Apple to create a corporate “beach head” for OSX.
Let the snowball rolling. Can’t wait for the avalanche…
This thought process was fundamental to Dell conquering the home market. I know of so many people who bought Dells as their home computer because that’s what they used at work.
It’s an interesting scenario, but Apple would have to overcome a couple of obstacles, both having to do with price. It would have to cut Corporate World the same kind of breaks Dell does. And CD certainly doesn’t need the fastest hardware to justify the Apple premium. Even with Macbooks, which really compete toe-to-toe in price, they would probably have to offer an incentive somewhere.
I think laptops would be an easier transition for Joe Bloggs, since he’d be much more intimate and hands on, even if it was running Windows.
But with desktops, that’s a tougher nut to crack. While the logo on the case would be there, he’s still looking at a premium just to get the same hardware he has at work, when he could get a much cheaper computer running the Windows OS.
And price becomes a bigger issue here. I would compare that situation with a workstation environement in which a graphics artist would love to get the same hardware/software he uses at work, but he simply can’t afford it and has to settle for a cheaper alternative. And since a cheaper Dell or HP runs the same OS as the Apple he’s using at work, switching is less compelling.
The figures already show the Mac Pro is probably about $300 less than an almost exactly configured Dell. Add a windows license and you can assume about the same cost. Price hasn’t been a real issue for a while. The difference is that Macs don’t really go low end.
The mini is as cheap as they come and it still comes with a better chip than a few of the HPs I was looking at yesterday for about the same cost.
When corporate IT managers have the ability to get equal hardware and get the extra software of OSX as a bonus, you might see more buy a few and experiment with one. Eventually this will translate into OSX being used more by the end client in places other than graphics.
Price hasn’t been a real issue for a while. The difference is that Macs don’t really go low end.
That’s a BIG difference. These businesses aren’t the least bit interested in $2500 Mac Pros.
And the Mac mini, at $600 base, isn’t as “cheap as they come.” I can get a PC today for $400 that would more than fit the bill for most businesses. And that’s without the bulk deals I could from a company like Dell or HP.
That’s not to say Apple couldn’t compete, but they’d have to make the kinds of offers they do with schools. And like Chris suggests, it would be about moving hardware, since these businesses would still boot Windows as the primary OS.
Price isn’t an issue, but availability is. Businesses need machines TODAY. Even after going to Intel Apple still can’t deliver a machine next day. Add a little bit of BTO and it tacks two weeks onto the delivery. not acceptable for business. It’s logistics that make Dell better than Apple. Only the truly dedicated buy Apple computers because they put up with the wait. I also don’t know how much support Apple gives to the enterprise. IT People walking around with MSCE certificates aren’t likely to recommend Macs.
Low end is where TCO comes in. I was looking at those $400 machines yesterday, they were great for simple consumer or small business needs, definitely. But they were also machines I knew would be dead in 2 years at the most. Where I work we budget for them lasting 4 years without a RAM upgrade and another 2 with it.
Figuring that you buy a machine 3 times in the same time as another you buy once, it suddenly starts looking like a good deal to the smart buyer. And there’s the rub.
Businesses are all about short term when it comes to spending. You are right Beeblebrox, the difference is huge. Could smart IT managers convince suits to spend more for quality? Or do the suits all act like quantity is a quality all its own. My money is on quality thanks to how short sighted people are in general.
Apple getting its foot in the door isn’t about bundling Windows. Its about watching PCs and Windows become such an expensive proposition that Apple becomes cheaper to the suits. Once the perception gets to the public, we might see their marketshare climb.
In the mean time, they are still doing fine and that’s good.
I was looking at those $400 machines yesterday
Uh huh. That’s interesting because you said that Mac minis were “as cheap as they come” compared to the computers you were looking at “yesterday.”
I guess you conveniently forget about the much cheaper $400 machines you’re now talking about.
But they were also machines I knew would be dead in 2 years at the most.
Mac users love to fall back on TCO, I guess because you get to play fast and loose with vague notions of longevity, like that nimrod who claimed that XP was 5x more expensive to maintain than OS X.
Well I bought one of those $400 machines three years ago, and guess what? Not only is it not dead, I use it as my primary Windows workstation. I did upgrade the gfx card for that, but businesses wouldn’t have to incur that cost. Otherwise it’s an AMD 2300+ that could easily keep up with your average business needs even three years later.
Its about watching PCs and Windows become such an expensive proposition that Apple becomes cheaper to the suits.
For better or worse, the suits don’t live in this deluded Apple fantasyland where Macs are magically cheaper (when you assume that PCs will explode after six minutes and Macs will last nine hundred years and OS upgrades are free, and leprauchans give Mac users pots of gold).
The only business where Macs really compete in price is now the high-end gfx industry thanks to the competitive pricing of the Mac Pro compared to the high-end Dells. But that industry is already using Macs, so they get to save money upgrading but it doesn’t really shift Apple’s marketshare that much.
corporate - yes, there’s no reason not to - I’m sure Apple can get a good OEM deal or if not, they can sell a partitioned Mac and setup the Admin server software to handle putting their license WIN on macs ...
consumers - no, because then as “official software,” they’d have to offer some sort of support for it.
Deepthought system startup. Process: Apple and Microsoft About: Possibility of Apple pre-installing windows
/SYS/wordsearch>possibility
/SYS/switch to outcome mode
Outcome: Possible
Why: system switch
Meaning: Human nature.
/SYS/error>bad explanation
/SYS/repeat last question
Meaning: Curiosity and surprise, accident and surprise, anger and surprise
/SYS/error>bad explanation
/SYS/Question last answer
Meaning>Curiosity and surprise: no idea what macintosh is tries it out and finds simplicity
Meaning>accident and surprise: no idea what macintosh is tries it out and finds simplicity
Meaning>anger and surprise: no idea what macintosh is tries it out and finds simplicity
Deepthought error>Meaning>accident and surprise: no idea what macintosh is tries it out and finds simplicity
/SYS/replace>no idea what macintosh is>accidently loads macintosh,
Fixed text: Meaning>accident and surprise: accidently loads macintosh, tries it out and finds simplicity
Deepthought, I think you are running Windows. I recommend to run your virus scanner, defragger, and stop typing when you’re burning a DVD ‘coz you don’t make sense. Or are you typing using your freakin’ toes again do you?
You also need to upgrade that voice recognition software while you’re at it. Um…make that, go to your nearest Apple Store and grab one of those Mac Pros. I heard they got one nice voice recognition and synthesizer. Not to mention it is fully compatible with your Windows apps!
Cheers!
I think Windows would be the wrong choice simply because people would get used to the fact they have this on their machines and maybe it would backfire just like OS/2. Imagine Adobe saying: You professional Mac users just fire up Windows and there you have your Photoshop version we give a nice crossgrade price. Might even happen with parallels…
I didn’t forget those $400 computers. Mind actually reading for content?
“The difference is that Macs don’t really go low end.
The mini is as cheap as they come and it still comes with a better chip than a few of the HPs I was looking at yesterday for about the same cost. “
I referred to the Macs not going low end. I then say the mini is as cheap as they come. Cheapest Mac. I can see where the misread could happen. I did not say it is as cheap as PCs come. I did say it is as had a better chip than PCs at about the same cost.
If you are going to insult someone that essentially AGREED with you on almost every point you are going to find the few people that ever agree with you are going to see less people agreeing with you. Picking and choosing what people say to make them sound bad when you couldn’t even get the quote right ain’t winning you any allies either.
Having seen the difference in longevity for 5 years at a place with over 1500 computers, I can tell you that some PCs can last as long as Macs. Most will not. The better quality machines always last longer in any case. Cheap machines are just that. Cheap. Using my personal experience I said those cheap PCs would be dead in 2 years. Why? Because I have seen them fail first hand. And just like buying $50 boots every year for 4 years while someone else buys $150 boots once, it loses you money on the long term.
Are you channeling John C. Dvorak?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1927886,00.asp
Are you channeling John C. Dvorak?
Thanks Mr EMan. I never had read that article. I remember when it circulated and I saw the headlines, I thought it was total bollocks, so never read it.
Now I’ve read it, and I still think it’s total bollocks.
Apple dropping OS X all together (which is what Dvorak suggests) would be akin to them dropping the iPod.
OS X is the Mac. The fact that OS X can run on any Intel box now (if Apple would allow it) shows that the OS is bigger than the hardware.
No OS X = no Mac = no Apple
I was suggesting Windows on Macs as way to increase OS X usage.
Dvorak is suggesting killing off OS X and replacing it with Windows.
I’d reckon it’d be better to kill off Windows and replace it with OS X. If Bill is any sort of philanthropist, that’s what he should be trying to achieve.