David Coursey, Executive Editor of ZDNet's AnchorDesk, recently sat down and spent more than an hour with the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, and his conclusions :- Jobs has a vision for the future of Apple. I came away from the interview knowing more about what Apple won't do than what it will do!
Here's an example of what Apple won't do: Steve says Apple will not get into the home entertainment business -- not during the next 24 months, anyway. You won't find Apple doing a personal video recorder, Ã la TiVo or Replay, or an advanced set-top box, Ã la Moxie.
According to Jobs, those devices have yet to catch on, a fact perhaps best borne out by Microsoft's recent staff cuts and reorganization of its UltimateTV unit. TiVo has had its problems, too. SO MUCH for my idea that what Apple really needs to do is team up with a company like Sony and create a line of networked home-entertainment devices that combine the best of each company's strengths. If this is going to happen, it isn't going to be anytime soon.
Now here's what Apple will do. Steve drew on the whiteboard a diagram of Apple's view of the computer -- a Macintosh specifically -- as a user's "digital hub." While Steve wouldn't tell me what's coming next, it's clear he plans to stick to what he knows best: improving Macintosh and developing cool software to win new converts.
Steve and I talked about something that doesn't yet seem to have shown up on many people's radar: Apple's role as a Unix company. Few realize it, but Apple is rapidly becoming the largest volume manufacturer of Unix-based computers.
The new OS has already begun to open doors into companies that have relied on Unix-based scientific workstations and to corporate developers creating projects for Unix mainframe systems. These corporate developers, Apple says, have become big customers for the G4 PowerBook, the inch-thick Titanium-clad notebook that, with OS X installed, happens to be a Unix portable, too.
SO WHILE JOBS is happy to talk about Apple's future as a Unix vendor, he's not harping on it. But behind the scenes, Apple is quietly gearing up, adding technology evangelists, developer support staff, and the other people and programs necessary to launch a drive to sell OS X versus other Unix systems.
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