04/14/2008, 3:30pm, EDT
Monday, April 14th
Forbes: Software makes Apple, not hardware
Despite popular perceptions, Apple's primary strengths are not in hardware but in software, according to Forbes. The business magazine notes that while the iPhone is an increasingly popular smartphone, and sales of Mac desktops and notebooks are eating further into PC marketshare, it is actually software which makes Apple products distinct. The company is unusual in that it designs both hardware and software, something that was most commonly done in the 1980s and prior; it has not, however, actually produced its own hardware for years, a strategy it abandoned in part because it sometimes had trouble matching production to demand.
Forbes observes that modern Macs are based on Intel platforms, the same as those found in any Dell or HP computer, and rely on Unix as their core instruction set, upon which Mac OS X is merely a "candy shell." More basic hardware components are manufactured by a host of companies around the world, and only then assembled into Apple-designed configurations.
As a result it is said to be Apple's proprietary code, such as Mac OS, that separates it from rivals such as Dell. The company is particularly distinct in terms of the iPhone and iPod touch, which use a stripped-down version of a desktop operating system. While Microsoft has developed Windows Mobile for cellphones and media players, it is fundamentally different from Windows XP or Vista in many respects, and relies on hardware designed exclusively by third-party businesses.
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Apple is not about hardware. Forbes got that right. But it isn't about software, either.
Apple is about products. Apple simply combines excellent hardware design with excellent software design, resulting in very attractive hardware with a top notch user experience. And they put a high end marketing effort on top of it all.
No one else in the consumer electronics business does all of this. Certainly not Sony, or Microsoft, or the mobile phone manufacturers.
You cannot separate the software from the hardware and still have Apple.
If you take the hardware away, you'll have Apple OS on whatever crap machine J. Q. Doofus was cheap enough to buy.
Seems like another Forbes arrow misses the shooting range entirely.
Besides, what would the rest of the box industry do without someone to show them how to make ATTRACTIVE products?
But hardware makes Apple money.