Apple Tech at Macworld NY 2002
Pages: 1, 2, 3
Bringing People to the Platform
Jobs began the keynote by responding to criticisms from Microsoft that the adoption of Mac OS X is slow. Apple estimates that there are 2.5 million Mac OS X users and predicts that there will be 5 million by the end of the year. Jobs reported that 77 percent of the people who have bought new Macs since it shipped with Mac OS X as the default OS have kept Mac OS X as the default OS. He said that 20 percent of the install base is now running Mac OS X and that this constitutes the fastest transition in history. Jobs proudly concluded that not only is this faster than anything that Apple has done, it is also a faster adoption rate than anything Microsoft has done.
So far Apple has targeted the traditional Mac users at one end and the Unix hard-core users at the other end. They have reached out to the education market and to creative professionals. With the recent "Switch" promotion, Apple is trying to attract Windows users who are frustrated with various aspects of that platform. Apple estimates that about 1.7 million people have visited Apple's Switch site and that about 1 million of them are running Windows when they visit.
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Now comes the tricky part. The cycle of life for a platform is this: To attract users you need developers creating cool applications. To attract the developers to create the cool applications you need enough users to target. Apple can't afford to worry either group in this early stage of Mac OS X. With the $129 price tag for Jaguar, Apple is punishing the customers who switched to Mac OS X first. They risk angering their hard-core early adopters. Even if they don't anger these people, Apple should make it easy for the 2.5 million existing customers to come to Jaguar. Apple can't move developers to take advantage of Ink or Rendezvous if a high percentage of the customers don't run the version of the OS that supports these technologies.
But shouldn't Apple get paid for all of their hard work? Sure. I would pay for Jaguar. Switchers will get the new OS for free when they buy the new hardware. Classic Mac owners will get their version of Jaguar free when they upgrade their old Macs to machines that can run this version of the OS. The only ones that will be paying are those who supported Apple through this change from Mac OS 9. As Apple ties more of its applications to .mac they can see revenues from users who actually take advantage of these applications. Apple is now trying to realize revenues from hardware sales, Internet services, and the operating system. By relaxing the pricing on the current release of the OS, they may increase revenue on the other two.
My Mom
Mom said, "I just paid $1,300 for a new iMac in April that came with Mac OS X in it. I'm not going to spend another $100.00 for something I don't need." As a developer, this worries me. I love developing in Java for the Mac because I know that everyone has Java 1.3.1 preinstalled. As soon as you have a significant number of people not upgrading to Jaguar, I have to worry about which version of Java is running on the Mac OS X Mac, just like my friends who target Windows boxes. I asked mom if she would upgrade if Apple only charged $19.00 for the disks. "I guess so," she said, "as long as it's really easy and nothing breaks."
In the next month, I hope Apple hears the many like my mom who won't upgrade. Apple needs to do three things: attract more people to the platform (the other 95 percent targeted by the Switch campaign and by the attention to the included developer tools), convert existing Mac users running Mac OS 9 and below to Mac OS X users, and get existing Mac OS X users to upgrade to Jaguar.
When my mother got her new iMac in April I bought her a copy of the Pogue Press best-selling book Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. It's helped her better understand Mac OS X. Next month I'm sending Steve Jobs a copy of the not-yet-released book "My Mom: The Missing Manual".
Daniel H. Steinberg is the editor for the new series of Mac Developer titles for the Pragmatic Programmers. He writes feature articles for Apple's ADC web site and is a regular contributor to Mac Devcenter. He has presented at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, MacWorld, MacHack and other Mac developer conferences.
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Showing messages 1 through 5 of 5.
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GROW UP!!!
2002-07-25 14:36:27 cranfordio [Reply | View]
Apple released OS X 10.0 on March 24, 2001. They are releasing Jaguar on August 24, 2002. That is exactly 17 months. If after 17 months of not charging for an upgrade I thik they should charge, they deserve to get paid for the work that they do. Every new operating system is going to have new features that users want and don't want but should the manufacturer just sell pieces of it because you don't want it all, NO. I don't know what has happened in this world that makes everybody think that they can just get everything for free. If you don't like paying the price then don't. Maybe you should buy a PC running Windows then. You could buy a PC with Win2000 and buy the upgrade to XP Home, not Pro, for $100 then if you have to reinstall you have to first do Win2000 and then upgrade to WinXP, or you could buy WinXP home for $199 and not deal with the hassle of installing twice. You know looking at it that way makes Jaguar not seem so bad. In fact, if you know someone who is a teacher or a college student, you could get it for only $69.
I think it's time everyone stopped thinking they should get things for free and pay people for the hard work that they do.
For those of you who think that it should be free because it offers features that should have been in OS X already. Well then maybe I should have gotten OS X for free originally because I thought System 7.5 should have been more stable. New features and speed are always going to come along in updates to the OS and if we always think they should be free then at what point do we agree to pay for them?
By the way this is my opinion on Jaguar, iTools/.Mac is a completely different issue and I think Apple is wrong for the sudden charging of $100 for the services.
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Good Article..
2002-07-25 13:10:34 rmuthup [Reply | View]
A well written article about the MacWorld Expo among the all the noise generated last week, through the more traditional outlets!
Without compelling hardware (performance wise) Apple rightly chose to focus on the software and some gizmos at this Expo. But I think they missed the boat by offering this one price fits all .Mac offering and the upgrade pricing.
.Mac: Offer the service on a scale depending on the users needs. Not everyone needs a large iDisk space, or a virus software from Apple. Most ISP's provide webspace anyway. So, why can't have a three tier price system: (a) A limited webmail system for $29.99/year; (b) an intermediate service for $60.00/year - email, webpages, iphoto hosting; (c) A delux service for the full price? Why should this be a flat price scheme?
They need to get more people use 10.2. What better way than to make "everyone" who already runs 10.1 to upgrade to 10.2 by making it affordable? As you rightly point out, new buyers will get it free and so would those who are running OS 9. Why not bridge the gap? Is 10.2 worth paying for the upgrade? Yes. Should it be full price? No. I think this type of effort will turn even the most ardent Mac Users off - and I see will promote s/w piracy.
R
PS: Apple is slowly turning into a MicroSoft. They have to be careful.. they don't have 96.4% of the market.
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Give us a break
2002-07-25 09:18:31 bradrice [Reply | View]
I agree with the earlier post. I too, have been posting feedback since the beta release. I think a price tag of around $50 - $60 should be used for previous OS X users. Apple does give a significant amount away to users. iTunes is a great app. But early adopters also are a marketing branch of Apple. Often times we are the ones who open new markets for Apple and encourage others to use the system. This kind of upgrade cost is discouraging.
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punishing early adopters
2002-07-25 03:05:18 harald.binder [Reply | View]
This article is exactly right: That heavy price tag for Jagar (in Europe its 160 Euro; that's approximately 160 US$) is like punishing the early adopters.
For example I paid for every version starting with Public Beta and resisted to use MacOS 9 or even Classic from that time on. I sent dozens of Public Beta-error reports and continued to do so after the 10.0.0 release.
In addition it seems that I don't need any of the new Jaguar features (the iApps, etc.). The only thing I would like to have is the speed boost and perhaps the sprin-loaded folders (which were present at MacOS 9).
So for me its like paying 160 US$ for bug fixes!
Because of that I will simply wait until I get a new computer and then I will get the OS for free.
Very frustrated,
Harald
I love NextStep so much that I'm thinking about going into Cocoa development full time. I think a cool way to get us early adoptors to fork over the $129 is to offer one year of .mac service for free. I probably would consider it then.