This is a such a small market as to be insignificant, and does not justify any costs accured to Apple in pursuit of it.
I've always said that it is a small market, as a percentage of total computer users. But, taking that market as a percentage of Mac users, it isn't so small. It can easily equal the entire yearly sales of the platform, if not more. That's not just the "crazies" of course.
Providing Boot Camp, is already part of Apple's program. Exactly why they are providing it is only a guess. Is it for business users? For schools? For home users? For gamers?
For all of them?
That part of the requirement is already in place. If Apple provided three or four other video cards, they wouldn't be only for gamers.
The cost to Apple isn't enormous, but the benefits could be.
If Apple picked up just 200 thousand users who moved because games could now be played on the platform, at an average price of $2,000, that would be $400 million in sales.
Any costs to achieve that would be trivial.
Apple has wasted far more than that on initiatives over the years.
This is a such a small market as to be insignificant
I don't think 64 million is insignificant. I wouldn't say even 30 million as an installed base is insignificant.
If Apple can get some die hard gamers sold on Apple kit? I'm for it. With X-Code, Open GL 2, Leopard...Apple's platform is hardly prehistoric to develop for.
To me, the gaming market is Apple's untapped gold mine which could really add to the bottom line of a company which is already performing outstandingly well. An extra 100k or 200k of units per year? All adds to the bottom line. And let's face it, the Mac Pro is outstanding value for money but it's still expensive compared to your average PC tower...selling in the £795 to £1395 range. That's a big chunk of buyers. Auntie Gladice and iMac sales aside.
It's been a while since the Apple II had the gaming halo or the Mac has Lucas Films developing hot games. But things are different now.
2, 4, 8 cores. GPUs that are hardly pushed to their limits in many ways. Loads of ram. Loads of hard drive space. Forward thinking technology in Leopard.
I think Apple's Mac is looking like a very potent gaming platform or anything platform. There are more Mac developers than there have every been. Apple are selling more Macs than ever, in record numbers. And they have stores to sell Apple software...games...all sorts of stuff. Apple sell alot of developer software at their stores. So, sooner or later, more games, more concurrent game releases will be a reality if Apple's current growth tradjectory holds fast.
I remain steadfast in my believe that gaming on the Mac is an untapped seam.
It just requires a different tower range along side the iMac range. GPU power that trades the bundled monitor. And obviously uses Conroe instead. And as Apple reaches higher quarterly sales, there's no reason why they mightn't broaden their outlook and their range or product. (They did add the 'low cost' Mac Mini, didn't they? Despite the genuine reservations many had on these boards before it came to pass...)
I've always said that it is a small market, as a percentage of total computer users. But, taking that market as a percentage of Mac users, it isn't so small. It can easily equal the entire yearly sales of the platform, if not more. That's not just the "crazies" of course.
Providing Boot Camp, is already part of Apple's program. Exactly why they are providing it is only a guess. Is it for business users? For schools? For home users? For gamers?
For all of them?
That part of the requirement is already in place. If Apple provided three or four other video cards, they wouldn't be only for gamers.
The cost to Apple isn't enormous, but the benefits could be.
If Apple picked up just 200 thousand users who moved because games could now be played on the platform, at an average price of $2,000, that would be $400 million in sales.
Any costs to achieve that would be trivial.
Apple has wasted far more than that on initiatives over the years.
Comments
This is a such a small market as to be insignificant, and does not justify any costs accured to Apple in pursuit of it.
I've always said that it is a small market, as a percentage of total computer users. But, taking that market as a percentage of Mac users, it isn't so small. It can easily equal the entire yearly sales of the platform, if not more. That's not just the "crazies" of course.
Providing Boot Camp, is already part of Apple's program. Exactly why they are providing it is only a guess. Is it for business users? For schools? For home users? For gamers?
For all of them?
That part of the requirement is already in place. If Apple provided three or four other video cards, they wouldn't be only for gamers.
The cost to Apple isn't enormous, but the benefits could be.
If Apple picked up just 200 thousand users who moved because games could now be played on the platform, at an average price of $2,000, that would be $400 million in sales.
Any costs to achieve that would be trivial.
Apple has wasted far more than that on initiatives over the years.
This is a such a small market as to be insignificant
I don't think 64 million is insignificant. I wouldn't say even 30 million as an installed base is insignificant.
If Apple can get some die hard gamers sold on Apple kit? I'm for it. With X-Code, Open GL 2, Leopard...Apple's platform is hardly prehistoric to develop for.
To me, the gaming market is Apple's untapped gold mine which could really add to the bottom line of a company which is already performing outstandingly well. An extra 100k or 200k of units per year? All adds to the bottom line. And let's face it, the Mac Pro is outstanding value for money but it's still expensive compared to your average PC tower...selling in the £795 to £1395 range. That's a big chunk of buyers. Auntie Gladice and iMac sales aside.
It's been a while since the Apple II had the gaming halo or the Mac has Lucas Films developing hot games. But things are different now.
2, 4, 8 cores. GPUs that are hardly pushed to their limits in many ways. Loads of ram. Loads of hard drive space. Forward thinking technology in Leopard.
I think Apple's Mac is looking like a very potent gaming platform or anything platform. There are more Mac developers than there have every been. Apple are selling more Macs than ever, in record numbers. And they have stores to sell Apple software...games...all sorts of stuff. Apple sell alot of developer software at their stores. So, sooner or later, more games, more concurrent game releases will be a reality if Apple's current growth tradjectory holds fast.
I remain steadfast in my believe that gaming on the Mac is an untapped seam.
It just requires a different tower range along side the iMac range. GPU power that trades the bundled monitor. And obviously uses Conroe instead. And as Apple reaches higher quarterly sales, there's no reason why they mightn't broaden their outlook and their range or product. (They did add the 'low cost' Mac Mini, didn't they? Despite the genuine reservations many had on these boards before it came to pass...)
And that's Bootcamp aside.
Lemon Bon Bon
I've always said that it is a small market, as a percentage of total computer users. But, taking that market as a percentage of Mac users, it isn't so small. It can easily equal the entire yearly sales of the platform, if not more. That's not just the "crazies" of course.
Providing Boot Camp, is already part of Apple's program. Exactly why they are providing it is only a guess. Is it for business users? For schools? For home users? For gamers?
For all of them?
That part of the requirement is already in place. If Apple provided three or four other video cards, they wouldn't be only for gamers.
The cost to Apple isn't enormous, but the benefits could be.
If Apple picked up just 200 thousand users who moved because games could now be played on the platform, at an average price of $2,000, that would be $400 million in sales.
Any costs to achieve that would be trivial.
Apple has wasted far more than that on initiatives over the years.
Yeah. Something like that.
Lemon Bon Bon