Bettin' The Farm

Apple released a statement saying the release of Leopard, Apple’s highly-touted and anticipated next version of OS X, has been delayed until October. Why? Not because of any technical problems with the operating system, but because of Apple’s obsession with releasing the unproven and undercapitalized (in terms of telephone networks that can use it) iPhone. You have to wonder if the company’s focus on releasing what it believes to be another “world changing” device has caused it to lose all perspective. It’s bettin’ the farm on the iPhone, and that might not be a very wise thing to do.

There was a lot of speculation when Apple changed their name from Apple Computer to just Apple, Inc. whether that meant Apple’s computer line would become a second class act. Several computer magazines ran editorials praising the Apple move and providing rationale for why that would not happen. I think you have to call such conclusions into question.

First, Apple has just lost the opportunity to continue to take steam out of Vista sales and it also may have further hurt sales of its own hardware. I was just reading today that Mac sales had slowed in anticipation of Leopard’s release. We’ll have to see if that trend continues. More importantly, though, the release of Leopard now when Vista has failed to gather momentum in most of the computer world could potentially push Vista even more into the blur of the background. By pushing back Leopoard’s release six months, Apple has bought Microsoft time to devise more strategies and convince hardware vendors to do more to make Vista acceptable to the masses. Microsoft knows it’s on the ropes, and it will come out swinging.

Secondly, the pace of software development for the Mac community within Apple itself has slowed; and this is only going to reduce it further. Rumor has it that the new version of iLife is tied to the graphics changes in Leopard, and I seem to remember reading that the new CS3 versions of Adobe software will also perform better under Leopard than Tiger. So, the Mac computer community is being forced to take a lot of hits, all so Apple can get its new telephone out on the market. It’s truly putting the horse before the cart, even though my pocketbook won’t complain about the delay in outgoing funds.

Apple could have easily pushed the iPhone release back, and I suspect the reason it didn’t had more to do with ego and image than market cycles or profitability. Apple chose instead to bite the hands that feed it, its computer user base. Too much more of that, and Apple’s debacle with the Newton may look like small change compared to what happens next.