The hot news for the past couple of days was the announcement from Apple on their new product, called "Boot Camp" which enables Microsoft Windows XP to run natively on Intel-based Macs. AAPL got a boost from the news, gaining nearly 16% in two days.
The software is still in Beta and the stability or performance is yet to be proven, but it sure is a significant event that marks the first true cross-platform product between Apple and Microsoft.
I've been thinking about this Apple-Microsoft mashup possibilities for a while now, and the more I think of it, the more it makes sense - especially from Apple's standpoint. This announcement confirms Apple's vision to provide a powerful hardware platform that fullfills the customers needs. However, there is no sign that Apple will make their software available to PC users. This confirms my belief that Apple is still fundamentally a Hardware company.
I believe that once they enable OS X and other great softwares to run on PC's, they will instantly have a bigger market and growth opportunities. They will be able to compete with MS head-on! This is going to be a huge change in the way they build products, but if you think about the market-cap difference (AAPL: 60B, MSFT: 280B) between the two companies, you will see where the real money is. If you can get 10% more of the operating system market, their market cap can easily double up - almost instantly.
Yes, it will be exciting to see Apple enter the Netbook world. I found an article predicting this for MacWorld 2009. Moreover, I also found a Wired video where the expert tells you how to load Leopard onto an MSI netbook. Check it out.
http://tinyurl.com/9wkp9y
Posted by: Leigh Zeitz | December 30, 2008 at 10:04 AM