/dev/blog

In this article, Mathewson is essentially saying that Apple switched to Intel in order to compete with Microsoft in the OS market.

I personally don’t think so. The reason is that Apple is a hardware company, and that is where they make most of their money. I’ve heard that their profit margin is up to 30% for hardware. And they can’t possibly make that much on operating systems alone. Sure they make more in terms of profit margin, but in terms of money, it is not possible. For example, the 20″ iMac currently sells for $1699, and so that’ll be a profit of about $500 using the 30% number, or $340 using 20%. By selling copies of OS X can never reach that height, at least not in the short run. Also, if they become a software company, their business model has to change completely. Right now, yes, they are great at making software, but all that work is just to cause more hardware sales. OS X for the computers and iTunes + iTMS for the iPod. I personally don’t see how Apple could possibly only sell software in the future.