The Apple Software Catch-22
Sometimes, you’ve just got to ask the annoying questions, even when you already know the answers. As a journalist who uses, likes and writes about Macs, this often boils down to one of two questions:
“Is it Mac compatible?”
“Do you have plans for a Mac version?”
Inevitably, there’s still the other journalists in the room – I’ll save embarrassment of one particular editor who constantly mouths “Who Cares?” at me across the room by not naming him – but it seems like vendors are catching on, at least in a small way.
The thing is, I quite often ask the question knowing full well what the answer will be – but sometimes just having the “official” answer tells as much about the vendor as the substance of the answer itself.
Also, surprisingly, things have shifted from a simple vendor sigh into any of a number of responses. Every once in a while I’m pleasantly surprised, in that there’s either a Mac version underway, or even bundled in the otherwise flimsy cardboard box. If it was ever true that Macs were starved for application choices, it’s certainly not true today, outside certain very specialised applications.
As Apple’s market share grows, more and more companies are catching onto the idea that it might be a good and profitable idea to service the company’s customers. It probably doesn’t hurt that the competition is busy in the throes of what’s quickly becoming Windows ME 2.0, either.
Even the issue of niche applications is a hurdle that can be overcome, albeit one with a potentially very severe downside. Chasing games companies on an unrelated matter last week, I asked the inevitable Mac question, and the answer I got basically boiled down to “No, we don’t. But not because we’re not interested. It’s because of Boot Camp.”
An interesting response. It’s fair enough – if Apple’s built in tools into the operating system that essentially mean developers don’t have to develop for their platform because they’ll run on the same hardware, then I guess they don’t really have to. It’s a tough balancing act for Apple, though. On the one hand, they sell more computers (good for the bottom line). On the other hand, what happens if nobody develops for them because they presume everyone’s running Windows XP?
Other Blog Entries written by Alex Kidman:
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Comments: 1
|
nix
Apr 10, 2008 10:54 AM
|
I'm surprised anyone is seriously saying they aren't producing a native Mac version because of Boot Camp. That's incredibly short sighted. In my opinion, it's the same as it ever was -- Mac versions of software are to target Mac users, and a real Mac user is not going to want to reboot into Windows or pay for a VMWare license in order to use a piece of software. |