Psystar...

OK so think of this as the lunatic ramblings of a paranoid… BUT weirder things have happened.  What if Psystar , the company currently being sued buy Apple for making OSX loaded clone computers, were a front for a larger computer company testing the limits of Apples control over its computer franchise.  I know its a little crazy but follow me for a moment.  Lets say a huge computer company, lets call it Hewdell Packovo, knew that a couple of years from now 15-20 percent of the computer market were going to be running OSX.  And as a result in their desire to continue growing Hewdell Packovo wanted to make computers that would run OSX, and perhaps had even spoken this desire out loud.  What if Hewdell Packovo for reputational and balance sheet risk reasons knew that they could not challenge Apple’s User Agreements/licensing patents (you get the idea) .  What if Hewdell Packovo as a result of this knowledge were able to and with a small amount of money were able to motivate some guys to set up a company with the express purpose of taking the issue to court?  I’m Just sayin…  What if these guys had say a well funded legal defense fund?  The upside for Hewdell Packovo would be HUGE and the downside for Apple equally huge.  

The Risk, the Real risk (for Apple) here is that Apple loses.  A loss would result all PC manufacturers being able to sell PCs capable of running OSX. The likely result of which would end up being some sort of brokered licensing deal.

And if Psystar loses, Apple maintains its franchise and Hewdell Packovo is out chump change.  Again I know this is like “Three days of the Condor” type stuff but weirder stuff has happened, and as Deep Throat said low those many years ago… “Follow the money”

MAC to Apples PC (Part 1 Why Apple is PC)

Who is going to be MAC to Apples PC in the portables business?  Yea its hard to get your brain around but it that is why Apple has spent so much time and effort courting the development community.  They want to be the guy that everyone says “I know (Fill in the Blank) is a great phone but All the useful applications are on the iPhone” about.  Apple wants the power of the “Network Externality”  They have aimed their considerable marketing arsenal at all of us and told us in every way possible that we want an iPhone that having an iphone and the internet in your pocket is indispensable.  IF I say IF Apple can succeed in getting 50-100 million of these things out there AND IF one (OR several) of these developers actually create something that works really well then ….  Then … Everyone will have to use an iPhone because it is then that the Network Externality says you will have to.  Just like when you didn’t buy a mac in 1999 it was because they sucked Outlook (or some other program) only ran on a Microsoft PC.  Apple currently has as much as 25% of the US smartphone market share.  Their share of this market and the size of the market are going to grow explosively over the next few years.  Think about it… Think ahead to the time you will be able to pick up a version of the  iPhone for $50 bucks at the mall kiosk.  There are other phones and they will gain in functionality but really who would not buy the phone that has 1046 (as of this morning) programs you can download?  Apple is going to be one of the dominant players in the smartphone business and Apple is PC because they will define the smart phone market for the next 10 years.