Columnist: Apple won’t conquer Corporate America

Apple will never conquer Corporate America even though some Mac users are hoping it will make serious inroads with Mac OS X and a redesign of Microsoft Outlook, opines Business Week Online’s ” Byte of the Apple ” columnist, Charles Haddad.

The columnist says that, though he “adores” his Mac, conquering the office just “ain’t gonna happen.” He says OS X and the upcoming Mac version of Outlook are “both wonderful new additions to the Mac platform but neither are enough to win a battle long since lost.”

OS X’s much needed, and long awaited, Unix underpinnings are important but won’t take market share from Windows NT/200, Haddad writes. “OS X is just catching up to the stability and company wide compatibility that already exists in big corporate networks,” he says. “The one new thing OS X does provide is enhanced ease of use and stunning graphics. But big companies don’t seem to place much value on good looks and ease of use. That’s why they never adopted the Mac in the first place. I doubt OS X is going to suddenly change that perspective.”

And though Outlook for the Mac is a “godsend for corporate info-tech departments,” it sill won’t prod a “corporate stampede” to the Mac platform, Haddad says. For one thing, Microsoft still hasn’t added the ability to program Outlook for the Mac. This means that Mac programmers still can’t write customized functions that integrate Outlook into Microsoft Office, but this lack of integration has saved Macs from the epidemic of scripted viruses that have plagued the Windows version of Outlook, Haddad says.

“What would actually lure corporate users to the Mac?” he concludes. ” I suspect nothing short of sharply lower prices and dazzling new functionality. But Macs are never going to undersell the inexpensive generic PCs favored by most big companies. To be sure, the Mac isn’t doomed without the corporate market. Macs retain a solid following among writers, artists, photographers, and graphic designers. They’re also still dominant in the publishing market. And if Apple can win back its lead in schools and universities, education isn’t lost, either. But Macs conquering the office? Dream on.”