@KSPRAYDAD (TAWKN.com):

Apple will probably do fine. Mostly because their profits come from a lot of people who will absolutely refuse to switch to another brand to save money.

Also, they've got the best selling cell phone in America right now, and we'd have to be eating boiled cabbage every night to stay alive before people start cancelling their cell phone plans.

chefgon

actually with Apples steep prices on there computers I actually seeing them either have to lower prices for suffer. I also see Dell and HP doing just alright. They are already making necessary layoffs and figuring out new ways to cut costs. Acer meh... there screwed. Far as Lenovo aka IBM im sure they'll be alright. Like was posted above they have a China mark, and in the US they do have a lot of business. I work at a major ISP and thats all we buy is Lenovo. Only because we have a contract with them. So they may hurt on the consumer side as well with Apple because both companies dont offer cheap computers. Then the cheap computers they do have are just sad in the first place.

TLC-BobTheBuilder

@OletheaEurystheus: Apple will live, the massive markup on a mediocre computer to have an apple on it and make it look all purdyful will sustain them.

Con Seannery

I don't think Lenovo will go bust. They're #1 maker in China, and seems to be tied with the government. [news.bbc.co.uk]

ywpark

@OletheaEurystheus: Apple has 40% or more and growing of its income from iPhone/iPod...it is a consumer electronics company more than a computer company imo.

KSPRAYDAD (TAWKN.com)

@OletheaEurystheus: Oh wait this is CNET, thus its owned by Microsoft.

OletheaEurystheus

Um Hi Apple? Apple is the only PC manufacturer whos actually SELLING to beat street right now. While they do hideously under report their expectations, they also routinely beat street.

OletheaEurystheus

"According to CNET, Lenovo is totally screwed. They reported a quarterly loss of 78%, and is more focused on business than consumer lines."

I thought Lenovo was ALWAYS more focused for the business user compared to a home user.

Hell, either way, their products trump both HP and Dell's piles of junk.

Dakota Courtois

I believe Apple will come out on top. And then we'll figure out how insecure OSX really is, and Windows will become the OS of choice for us computer snobs.

Or the Amiga will stage a huge comeback.

Lite

@chefgon:
- You don't save money if your Windows-based PC generic PC takes considerably longer to do the same tasks compared to a Mac running OS X.

- You don't save money if you have to buy a considerable amount of 3rd-party software because it's not included or isn't offered as an OS X port from powerful Unix tools. Of course, using Linux can save you money, but then the first consideration regarding taking more time to perform tasks takes over for most people.

- You also don't save money if you are needing to upgrade your machine sooner rather than later, while getting less of a return on your old equipment.

Leonard Nimrod

@OletheaEurystheus: Apple, with under 10% market share in PC sales, doesn't really have to worry much. They already have a hardcore customer base who will continue to buy from them. However, not many are likely to make the switch considering they get 50% less equivalent computing power, dollar for dollar.

Also, considering that Apple makes more money from peripheral and accessory sales than they do from actual PC sales, and they also sell a very popular and overpriced cell phone, I think they will be fine.

Pointless luxury items aimed at the rich and uninformed generally don't suffer too much during economic downturns. The rich 10% still account for the majority of Apple's 10% market share, I am sure.

BeautifulAgony

Love my HPs, not surprised.

LiC

IBM did well to get rid of its notebook division.

leemajors

@Lite:

How will they find out how insecure it is when in fact its much more secure? That doesn't make sense?

iAirmanshirk69

Apple is in the process of buying Dell. You heard it here first folks!

iAirmanshirk69

@BeautifulAgony,
1) That 10% is only for the US in unit sales. Apple is taking about 33% of all pecuniary sales in the US for PCs.

2) You'll have to prove your "50% less equivalent" FUD.

3 Again with the FUD for peripheral and accessory sales. Where are you hearing this stuff, because you aren't reading it from any half-credible site so I assume you are getting your PC facts from Radio Shack and Best Buy employees. Being a company that pioneered AIOs and is all about svelte design they have considerably less peripherals and accessories to offer that other PC vendors.

4) The iPhone is a very expensive phone, but it also has a lot more HW power than other phones. You can buy a Moto RAZR and actually get $30 back for getting a free phone. The iPhone will never be able to compete with that, nor will any other smartphone vendor, at least not without even higher cost to your network contract.

5) You are correct that most luxury items will suffer less during recessions, but could it be that the wealthier actually tend to know how to manage their money better because they are well informed? It's the the ones that live week to week year after year that are most hurt because they can't buy as much as they used to, and have no safety net if they lose their job.

Leonard Nimrod

@OletheaEurystheus: That and 25 billion clams in the bank to sustain it.

frigg

I believe that Packard Bell will make a huge comeback with crappy ass computers.

Wess

@Leonard Nimrod: you save money by doing your research and buying for your needs, not trends. :)

emergeoriginal

@leemajors: Yup, and while those old Thinkpads were reliable, they were ugly as hell.

Nintenboy01

i hope HP makes it... Im getting disappointed with Dell. I used to be a Dell Fan, but they put too much garbage on it to start with... its very disappointing really, HP has done the same, but i have had problems with pre-installed symantec products, and i have problems removing some of the bloat. Right now, after removing preinstalled Norton 360, my lappy won't connect to the internet. so, HP FTW! (i hope...)

p3713

@tulanejosh:

Not so much, and yes, very much.

iAirmanshirk69

@tulanejosh:

Use your brain please. Complete Shut down.

iAirmanshirk69

@Pwnage:

who's reporting losses? can you read a P&L sheet? they aren't reporting losses - they are reporting less profitablity - as in they're still stupid profitable just not as much as the last quarter on an earnings per share basis. companies like gm and ford report losses in the billions. the companies above grow money on trees - those trees are just bearing less fruit.

tulanejosh

@iAirmanshirk69:

worst use of apple's money one could possibly think of...why in the world would apple want to buy a pc manufacturing company. the people that buy dells or hps - they dont want apple macs. that's why they are buying pcs. so if it wouldn't increase demand for apple products, what possible reason could apple have to buy dell? are they in need of manufacturing capacity?

Als - numbskulls - there's a huge difference between market cap and actual value... If anyone thinks that dell could be purchased for $25,000,000,000... yeah that's funny... Dell himself and the company hold the controlling interest. the market cap reflects the value of stock currently available for purchase - not the value of the company.

tulanejosh

and by that i mean that a huge chunk of apple's revenue comes from ipods and iphones and apple tv. Its PC business is much smaller than the companies listed above, albeit much discussed as of late. There's a reason that the "I'm a PC" ads speak so much to the fact that EVERYONE uses pcs... and i say this typing on a shiny macbook pro - so i am not a pc fanboy.

tulanejosh

Apple doesnt qualify as one of the top 5 pc manufacturers - its market share is too small. It qualifies as more of a consumer electronics company. Its not a true competitor to Dell or HP.

tulanejosh

Apple Anyone??? Billions of dollars in profit, while other companies are reporting billions of dollars in losses????!!!!

Pwnage

@iAirmanshirk69:

absolutely ridiculous! fan boy!

tulanejosh

Dont rule out the possibility of mergers with some of the smaller brands... I could see toshiba selling its unit to lenovo or acer - survival through binge eating - has worked for many industries in previous recessions.

tulanejosh

@iAirmanshirk69:

use my brain? you need to use yours... trying learning some basic business principles before you open your mouth for the sake of hearing yourself talk. Apple and Dell are in completely different businesses. No legit reason for apple to even consider this...

And if you think business is based on stupid notion of retribution because Michael Dell hurts Jobs and Apple's feelings 10 years ago... dude get a grip.

Something a typical apple fan boy would have... and I say this to you as a fellow Mac user. Get over it already.

tulanejosh

at the cost of how many jobs though? HP has made is almost an annual policy to cut X% of its work force - they're numbers looks good because they have turned indifference to employees into an art form. Sounds like the type of company i want to business with...

tulanejosh

HP shocked me when it made something good out of its acquisition of Compaq. From a total dog of a deal they made it work. So if they could make that work they probably have the stuff it takes to survive and thrive in this down-market.

Windhawk

@tulanejosh:

Should have checked for a brain before i told him to use it

iAirmanshirk69

@OletheaEurystheus: And it has ALWAYS been a major competitor to Dell. Dell basically got its entire sales playbook from Apple. IF Apple cut it or introduced it you can bet your ass Dell cut it or made a ripoff version a month later.

When I worked for Apple within a month of Apple introducing the "mobile cart" concept to schools when they released the original Airport, Dell had a inferior one with end of life laptops out to compete with Apple.

OletheaEurystheus

@tulanejosh: its the third highest selling PC manufacturer per quarter right now.

OletheaEurystheus

@tulanejosh:
Preach on Brother....you are correct sir...

Carbon

@tulanejosh:

And name ANY company in this industry that acutally has orignal ideas... yes apple is the closest thing i can come up with as well. but at a bare bones level - they all sell the same commodity. nothing really original about any of them. If you fault dell, you gotta fault every other consumer pc manufacturer as well. and since i dont see lawsuit flying back and forth between any of them over copyright infringement - apple must not see it that way either. and you know they patent everything.

tulanejosh

@iAirmanshirk69:

actually you should get a job and finish your college education before you spot off your fanboy propaganda. if you think that's how business works - "hehe... lets blow our kitty to make dell look bad for hurting our feelings when we didnt know our a$$ from a whole in the ground when steve left us the first time" - i fear for your future in this economy. have fun working telephone sales for someone.

tulanejosh

@OletheaEurystheus: @OletheaEurystheus:

I hear what you are saying - but i just dont see it that way - macs are not as important to apples business as say ipods and iphone. if there was a drop in mac sales - ok stock might suffer - but ipods and iphone are the bread and butter.

Unfortunately - 3rd highest per quarter - in US sales only... This article deals with the global nature of the business. Is Apple working on a BRIC plan that i am not aware of? The 5 listed here are global businesses. Apple does not play quite so well outside the us. 90% windows market share and all.

Dell ripping off apple does not mke it a pound for pound competitor. That's like saying - well lebron james wore this tshirt, and now peyton manning is, so i guess they play the same sport.

tulanejosh

@tulanejosh:

Brain. need one

iAirmanshirk69

@tulanejosh:

U.S. Military.

iAirmanshirk69

@tulanejosh:

So in the end neither are more secure. end of story

iAirmanshirk69

@Dakota Courtois: @Dakota Courtois:

you recall correctly.

tulanejosh

@iAirmanshirk69:

It's in fact so much more secure because the user base is so small that hackers and virus authors just dont bother dedicating any time to exploiting its loop holes.

tulanejosh

@Nintenboy01: ugly...but also camouflage. someone who sees that thinks you are using 10-20 year old computer. not a brand new 1500 gaming rig

jrghoull

@Carbon:

well not to mention that all the "original" ideas he cited - apple was not the first to do it. They were not the first to market with an mp3 player, they were not the first to market with a wireless router... hell they weren't the first to market with a phone that can browse the internet or play music.

Apple's inovation comes from taking existing technology that is just kind of middling along and so radically improves it that they instantly create a need for it. Ipod is a great example - ever hear of the creative zen?

Don't confuse innovative improvements with innovation.

tulanejosh

@Leonard Nimrod:
"You don't save money if your Windows-based PC generic PC takes considerably longer to do the same tasks compared to a Mac running OS X."

dude...how much time are you talking about here? i mean...it all depends on what you are doing...but the individual consumers who are buying computers based on very specific needs i doubt account for too much of apple's sales.

"You don't save money if you have to buy a considerable amount of 3rd-party software"

lets be honest here. if its REALLY expensive, then you can probably pirate it. theres also alot of free or low cost software out there that could potentially cover your issues. for the rare piece of software that none of the above choices cover...well...buying a piece of software for a few hundred bucks is still cheaper than the extra grand or two that that apple would have cost you.

"You also don't save money if you are needing to upgrade your machine sooner rather than later, while getting less of a return on your old equipment."

so then....dont. if you have the brains to put a pc together yourself, take the money that that apple which you were considering buying, and spend it on parts instead. since apple's "brand tax" is very high, you'll probably get a far superior computer for the same money.

sincerely;

someone who doesn't understand apple fanboys.

jrghoull

@jrghoull: Other way around. IBM sold off the Thinkpad division to Lenovo, IIRC.

Dakota Courtois

@Dakota Courtois:

based on the little i have used lenovo, i must agree that it makes better laptops.

i'm curious though what happens if/when lenovo does collapse? i mean, wasn't the company sold off years ago? what happens then?

i must admit i'm surprised that lenovo hasn't done better. to me, the physical feel of the machine is quite important. and what laptop feels more solid than a lenovo? ibm next? followed by a hp as a distance 3rd. apples aren't in the mix because i dont think i've ever picked one up.

this stuff about the feel of a laptop may sound crazy to alot of you...and it is. but for me, its an important part of buying a laptop. and since the computers are so similar in this day and age, its important to find a feature or two, however small or unusual, that saparates the one from the many.

personally i hope that, whatever may happen, that lenovo sticks around just long enough for me to get around to buying a desktop replacement laptop from them.

jrghoull

@tulanejosh: you know ignoring iairman...because, well, he's an idiot who write incomprehensible comments (use brain? complete shut down? what in gods name are you talking about???) at the same time, if apple one way or another did get into a more pc like business, it would allow them to cover all the grounds. on the one hand they would have their elist cell phones and computers, and on the other they would have a low end group of computers which would be either directly sold as a low end laptop like asus' are, or as a upperclass thing that lots of people in the middle lower classes are buying, such as with the iphone.

i only wonder if they would really know what they were doing and how to properly deal with such clientel. if they did decide to do that and were successful (i know they wont, but it can be interesting to theorize) then they would probably have to rearrange alot of things internally to deal with the upsurge in business.

jrghoull

@Leonard Nimrod:
-Yes you do. What if I took the same $2100 you'd drop on a top end, 24" iMac and built a machine that will rip it to shreds that runs Windows? You can build one crazy fast computer with 2 grand. I'll include the 24" screen in that price, so the display is the same, and say you have "only" $1750.

You also still save money on a cheaper machine, even if another computer takes longer- different people assign different values to their time, so it depends on the person.

- I haven't bought any software (or stolen, thank you) to let me do anything else that I want to do with my Vista install. And my machine is not exactly cutting edge, at least not as a whole. Only parts of it, which brings me to:

-You don't need to "replace" if you can "upgrade." The only mac with user replaceable parts (other than RAM) is the mac pro. I bought the foundation of my computer about two and a half years ago. Since then, I've added RAM, a dual core proc, I've upgraded the graphics card 3 times, and I've installed 2 more hard drives. I don't intend on dumping it any time soon, and I've probably dumped about $2,000 into it. That's over the two and a half year time, so I've been able to use the machine the entire time. Is it more powerful than a current $2100 imac? Undoubtedly. Is it as reliable? Once I got it up and running, yes.

Not that I don't think Apple will survive the economic conditions. They've got plenty of cash in the bank, and 40% of their revenue last quarter was from iphones (which will be affected, but not as much as computers), they'll be fine. I don't know if they'll see the same gains in the new computer market as they have before now though, with people being generally more concerned about the bottom line than cost plus time savings.

jdickson87

@iAirmanshirk69:
Its only secure because of its low market share, the point he was making is that if its market share increases dramatically OSX might become the new Windows.

madcoweater

HP has huge survival issues outside the PC and printer business, what CNET sees as a cushion against a downturn is actually an anchor tied to their ankles. The EDS acquisition is a horror show, EDS was already in trouble before HP bought them, and while expense reduction is necessary the 27000 odd job cuts are going to destroy what's left. The server business is entirely dependent on a chip that everybody knows Intel would rather not have to waste further resources on (especially in a poor economy) and HP has gutted their innovation, in the past couple years they went from 3rd in new patents to somewhere way down the list and now spend less on R&D as a percentage of revenue than they ever have in their corporate history. HP may survive as a printer company, a little less likely they will survive as a PC company but the rest of the business is in deep trouble.

bytepusher

@iAirmanshirk69:

Seriously - is that the best you got? Are you incapable of debating on the facts?

fuzzybunny34

@iAirmanshirk69:

I'm sorry you have no clue what you are talking about. Read CNNmoney or an annual report once in a while. You can substitute it for giz and porn once in a while - you might learn something... and take a flippin business course with some of that GI bill money.

fuzzybunny34

@iAirmanshirk69:

Well good luck to you when you get out of the service - whether you work for yourself or someone else, your short sighted views of how large corporations (or even SMBs for that matter) manage their balance sheet, and the motivations they employ to make various strategic investment decisions are sure to carry you far. *denote sarcasm*

And while i dont think you know what you are talking about - i still thank you for your service to this country.

fuzzybunny34

@jrghoull:

very much agree that apple could stand to benefit from a cheaper product line - BUT - there are cheaper ways to do that than buying a $60 billion company.

One thing I can be almost certain of is that the companies listed in this article would be more scared of an Apple that stopped turning its nose up at the $400 - $700 notebook market.

fuzzybunny34

@Lite: Security through obscurity ftw.

Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine

i agree

htifun

answer: Apple, and not Apple!!
If im in Steve Jobs shoes now, hehe dont kill me guys.
I will do one thing, focus on the OS. I will make this OS robust, usable and easy as playing Wii. This is a good chance to throw some ads, and have people come to you running scared.

I'm sure Windows 7 is the last chance for MS, and all PC manufactures to get the spotlight back, if (for some reason) they fail, then the area is all for Apple. Hope Snow Leopard will be able to handle this load ;-)

Until then, lets keep playin with Expose, who knows what Apple will remove from Snow.

medopal

@Leonard Nimrod: May be that the wealthier aren't getting laid off from their jobs or generally have more money to spend.

Cord

Are there any new rumors on the new HP laptops due by the end of the year?

PresidenToor

They'll all be fine. Some will just be better off then others in the end.

Quilt

Blah blah blah... I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I like my computer branded X

pretol

@jrghoull:
I've found this "magical build" of Lenovo laptops to be bullcrap.

pretol

@OletheaEurystheus: Apple continually "beat street"? Very good for them! (I'm guessing Schiller's the best dancer :)

+ Watch video

DW

@pretol: I'm guessing you bought into that whole Coca Cola Happiness Factory bit too.

There's nothing magical about it. I remember the first time I looked inside a T series and was amazed to find out that the circuit board with the ports attached was separate from the motherboard, and had its own part number. If I broke a port, I could just pop out the board and replace it for a nominal charge. ThinkPad has a long heritage of this kind of thinking. Since Lenovo was the manufacturer for ThinkPads, these practices remained when IBM sold them the line.

Need some evidence? Read this blog post where Lenovo did 3rd party ruggedness testing for their laptops.
[lenovoblogs.com]

Not all that is covered in plastic is crap. And not all that is covered in aluminum is great. My year old MBP case is already warping in two places.

But you just keep on believing that build quality is skin deep and along with it that your computer is filled with leprechauns projecting pretty pictures via rainbows.

Dizznizzle

@BeautifulAgony:

However, as the economic downturn may effect the people closer to the rich and middle income band in Apple's install base that means that those people may be affected. However, as Apple has brand loyalty all that may occur is that they stick with their older mac until it eventually conks-out then decide whether the price is justified.

Yeebles

@Con Seannery:

How many people with low income goes to a top brand designer for clothes rather than a cheap non-brand clothes shop?

Yeebles

@Lite:

During the current economic crisis the most important thing to the consumer is consumer surplus i.e. how many features can they get for the lowest price.

Security is not the biggest swayer.

Yeebles

Despite being a mac-convert i feel Apple will not come out well on the mac side. All there computers are too expensive for then normal home consumer who already need some convincing to leave an Opperating System (windows) which they have been using since their first computer (probably). Unless Apple releases a computer which can compete with low or mid-range Dells (I'm using annecdotal evidence that they are the average consumer's PC) they are unlikely to do well. Most people I know don't know enough about OSX to justify its high price.

Using economic theory I believe that Mac computers are income elastic meaning that if income goes up then demand goes up and vice versa when income decreases.

Yeebles

Well, I DON'T have an HP account.
That makes it a little one-sided.

Plus I've had a nearly perfect run with all my Dell PCs for years and years, no lie.

Hook me up HP, and we'll talk. :D

strider_mt2k

@OletheaEurystheus:

only if you dont consider the full product line globally from the others...

like say servers, storage, and networking.

Buddha916

@Dizznizzle: Thanks for posting that link to LenovoBlogs...I've been on it all morning reading stuff. It has a lot of info on my IdeaPad which has come in handy.

Giz posters rock!!

FiveLiters

@Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine: Linux FTW!

Using your logic, at least... I'd say you are correct. I'm a windows user, who uses linux all day at work. I really don't care which I use as long as I get my work done.

dmanbluesfreak

The company with the better combination of products, price, quality, and support will survive. In other words, HP. And no, Apple is not really a computer company anymore than Sony is.

BigRocket

@Leonard Nimrod:

You're making some seriously narrowview decisions there.

First, define "considerably longer". Most tasks on my Mac and an equivalently kipped PC running Vista take about the same length of time to within a few seconds. If your life efficiency is measured in seconds, well - more power to you. Most of us don't really care that much.

As for third party software, faulty in two entirely different ways. Vista does come with many of the same kind of apps that MacOS does. Safari - IE, and if you don't like that, you can get FireFox for free. Mail - Windows Mail. iCal - Windows Calendar. Dashboard - Sidebar. iChat - Windows Messenger (and countless other IM clients most of which are free). Address Book - Windows Contacts. Preview - Windows Gallery Preview. iTunes - Windows Media Player. iPhoto - Windows Gallery. iMovie - Windows Movie Maker. iDVD - Windows DVD Maker. Garage Band and iWeb- ok - the two exceptions, currently, nothing like these are included in Windows. Spaces - not really needed in Windows, but there's a free Powertoy for this. Time Machine - actually in NT for a while, get ShadowExplorer to make it easy to use (free).

That leaves Unix tools. Well, there are lots of ports of Unix tools to Windows, but you can also install Windows Services for Unix (v3.5 free from Microsoft) and voila - you have Unix. Oh.. and Virtual PC (also free from Microsoft) and you have Parallels for free.

BTW, if I have to pay more for the 'free' stuff, then it's not really free. And you do pay more for Macs because you don't have the range of choices you have for PCs.

Now, about upgrades. Two ways to look at that: PCs are crappier because they need upgrades sooner (debatable), or PCs are better because they CAN be upgraded when you need to. Add in the fact that the entry level for PCs is WAY lower than for Macs and you get the real picture: with PCs you can buy what you need then add later - with Macs you're stuck with what you get.

TheWerewolf

HP will definitely be able to weather the recession without a problem. Services alone accounts for billions of revenue for them. Especially since they now own EDS, they shouldn't have a problem. Dell on the other hand, I'm not so sure about since they are very consumer and hardware based.

mynameisjoe

@Lite: Apple is on the decline. They're hipster trendiness finally gave them enough marketshare for people to see that they're no better than PCs, yet cost so much more. Plus, the popularity of the iPod is wearing off. If the economy stays down, it's going to hit Apple hard.

RacecarBoobTat

I'm hoping Dell survives, but I wouldn't mind them restructuring their lineup and pricing. Between me and my family we have three Dell computers, the oldest going back to 2002/2003. Only one has had a major issue, a hard drive failure, which was replaced for free. My only issue with Dell is the fact that you can find five different prices for a single product based on where in the website or which advertisement you look at. It really is irritating. It only gets worse if you enter a company discount or education code or something. They also have too many similar models with similar market focus, capabilities, and design. I also hope they kill off Alienware. I was foolish enough to purchase an Alienware laptop in 2003, and it is the most regretful purchase I have ever made. The system was a piece of garbage from day one, and won't even power on now. I babied that piece of junk, and it's already worthless. I also don't understand why they own a company that competes directly with their XPS line.

I perform tech support at a high school that transitioned to HPs last year. Some of the desktops, of different models, suffer from a condition of getting stuck after waking from sleep mode. Other than that, they seem to be ok. My biggest issue with HP is their complete and utter lack of a functioning education web page, despite their promises to our technology director to have one operational soon (meaning last year). Oh, and there's the price fixing of ink, but that's universal for the entire industry.

In short, the loss of either company would be bad, regardless of what your opinions are of either company. The loss of competition is the worst thing possible for the consumer.

Finally, for god's sake stop whining about pre-installed bloatware. Any smart PC shopper knows two things.

1. Don't buy your computer off of Best Buy's showroom. They bastardize those things and slap on a million stickers proclaiming how great that ATI card and 15" screen are. By all means, if you want to look like a tool, buy one.

2. Nobody, and I mean nobody, should be using the factory-installed image set up on a computer. The first thing you should do once you confirm correct functionality of your computer is to wipe the hard drive, and reinstall the operating system, drivers, and any desired pre-installed applications. This removes the possibility of accidental or intentional malware infection from the factory, and completely removes the possibility of complications from attempted removals of bloatware.

blackmage439

@iAirmanshirk: If I was to design and build an OS in a language I create, it would be the most secure OS in the world. Once I started distributing it and people started looking for loopholes, then it would become very insecure.

^
This is the cause of Apples "secure" OS.

Project_J187

Interesting blog and article. There's an enterprise side to consider too. Dell, HP, Sun, and IBM...who's better positioned to move on the market in this space? We actually believe now is the time for Dell, HP, or IBM to buy Sun. http://dcsblog.burtongroup.com/

DanielleAchilles

HP is more diversified. Computer, Copiers, Printers....ect. Companies that have their hands in many different sales channels that will survive. Dell does not have a chance. Apple is proof that computes along can't do it. The diversification of the ipod and iphone along with the computers has made apple top dog in sales... Thank god.

KingsleyMed?n

Apple has not only reported great gains quarter after quarter, but their stock in consumer machine percentages are much much higher! The OS is fairly solid, and unlike 'Lite' above, who believes that computer "snobs" will still be using Windows is outrageous. My question to Lite is wether or not he's screwed around in Terminal or not. Unix is a lot of fun, and by NO means a lock out for experienced users. Look at Apple's 4th quarter gain In an economic downturn, they seem to continue pulling even stronger numbers. As much as their retail is starting to suck, and they are hiring more inexperienced "Sales Consultants", their product still speaks for itself. Now my diatribe is done.

LexineOriole