BusinessWeek Online has published a special report entitled The Future of Apple. The report takes a look at Apple’s own outlook from several different angles.
With Mac OS X coming into its own, a radical new iMac coming out, more than two dozen retail stores spread around the country and value-added applications shipping on Mac hard drives, Apple has a chance to flourish, according to technology editor Alex Salkever. He also noted that the company has plenty of money in the bank and the healthiest profit margins of any computer company around.
Mac OS X is examined as a possible source to “plug a glaring historic hole: The lack of Mac software.” The UNIX-based underpinnings of OS X offer an opportunity for Apple to fill out its library of third party software, posits the author, and the addition of value through Apple’s own iApps — software like iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie and iDVD — also help. Third party contributions like Microsoft Office are coming on strong, too.
The value of Apple’s stock is also examined. The hot-selling iPod and the eye-catching new iMac could equate to increased market share, according to the author, which might result in higher stock valuation. And Apple’s focus on making the Mac — the new iMac in particular — as the hub of the digital lifestyle is a message that’s appealing to analysts, who cite home entertainment as one of the few growth markets in an otherwise flaccid economy.
BusinessWeek Online also gives Apple a thumbs up for progress made in its security measures in OS X, which Alex Salkever said is better now than when the OS first was released in March of 2001. “The steps Apple has taken so far show that it is committed to making OS X impregnable,” said Salkever.
An interview with former Apple employee Jef Raskin attributes some critical comments about Apple’s user interface to the user interface guru, as well. Raskin comments, “Bottom line, we really haven’t made significant progress interface-wise from the original Mac.”
The special feature also includes links to a number of Byte of the Apple columns, the offerings of BusinessWeek’s resident Mac pundit Charles Haddad.
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