Mac is back with new Pentium-killers

1999-09-01

What an incredible turn-around. Over the past year Apple’s share price has more than doubled, quarterly earnings figures continue to beat analysts expectations and with yesterday’s announcements of new machines, the seismic turnaround in the company’s fortunes looks set to continue. Why?

New machines were unveiled yesterday with a claimed performance of three times faster than the fastest available Pentium III. The availability of such powerful, well-designed PCs will help convince the marketplace of the viability of the products both as a platform for now and an investment for the future. This is, however, only part of the reason for Macintosh Corporation’s return from the ashes.

If the PC industry was about technology alone, we would all have Macs. They were the first to the market with an intuitive interface, affordable networking and WYSIWYG (remember that?) output. Unfortunately, big Mac screwed up big time: it was slow to recognise the arrival of the PC (big and clunky though they were at the time) and it was slower to react when PC clone and component manufacturers pushed the prices down. PCs became affordable to the mass market, and Macs did not. Wintel won and Jobs lost. End of story.

But not quite. There was a time, not so long ago, where it was assumed that we only needed one sort of computer. It was called a PC, it ran Microsoft software and, well, that was that. Microsoft on Intel was considered the safe bet. This time is still here, but it is nearing an end. Everyone recognises it: look at Microsoft’s new corporate tag line “great software… for any device” – no mention of PCs. The device world is nearly upon us, with the one-size-fits-all PC being just one of many device types, including thin clients, mobile phones, PDAs, toasters, fridges… and Apple computers. Yes, that’s it. It is becoming OK to not have a PC. This is the real reason for Apple’s turnaround: the software is available, the performance is there and the company will be around in a year or so, so why not get an Apple computer?

Of course, Steve Jobs is to be credited for not letting the company lay on its back with its legs in the air. Bill Gates injected new life into Apple by committing to make Microsoft applications available for MacOS. There are lots of reasons why Mac is back, but the most fundamental reason of all remains, because it can be.

(First published 1 September 1999)