We all saw the signs
Over the last few months several rumors indicated that Mac OS X would be delayed. Often, the alledged reasons were not really credible. The last rumor, that Leopard would be delayed because of lack of proper Vista support in Bootcamp, launched by Taiwan’s Digitimes , was simply laughtable, and as such was quickly dismissed by the Mac community.
However, there was a reason these rumors emerged. There were signs all over that Leopard would be delayed, and we all saw them. How many wondered why Apple hadn’t started touting the new features of Leopard just two months before the official launch date? Weren’t we surprised to see that recent builds still had long lists of known bugs? Come on, we all knew deep inside that this was coming, but we had faith, even after the AppleTV was repeatedly delayed.
What strikes me is the reason argued by Apple to delay the release of their next generation OS. Blaming the iPhone seems simply silly. If it is true, it sends the message to the Mac community that the iPhone is more important than Leopard, something that is not so smart to do, since many Mac users already feel some kind of iPod envy, not appreciating that the music device is taking most of the spotlight. Most Apple fans want Apple to be successful in order to increase their computer market share and fight Microsoft head to head. Whether this is realistic or not is another question, the fact is that that is exactly what they expect. Removing the word computer from the company name and choosing the iPhone over the Macintosh does not bode well with the core Apple supporters either.
The truth is that a four month delay is not something to be truly concerned about. In fact, this delay solves many problems for Apple. Launching two major products (Leopard and the iPhone) the same month is something very difficult to execute properly. By only showcasing Leopard in June at the WWDC they can focus their marketing machine on the iPhone launch while starting to create hype around the new OS to ensure a successful product launch, just in time for Christmas. Quality of the code is obviously a concern also, as mentioned in the press release. Mac users are used to the highest standards and a buggy OS would probably have translated into a major PR disaster.
However, what I think most die-hard Mac users fear is a slow death of the Macintosh platform. We all know that personal computers (both Macs and PCs) are an endangered species. The Internet is slowly but surely killing them. Since the introduction of the idea of the network computer, the need for desktop OSes has been declining steadily and most of us spend most of our time working online. However, people (specially Mac users) seem to like their personal computers. They do not want to lose them and are asking for reasons to remain passionate about a product that every (smart) analyst sees going the way of the dodo. People are asking for 3-D interfaces with gorgeous graphics and in general all those things that cannot be achieved by a browser. That means that until web browsers become able to offer a true rich user experience, there will be a need for desktop computers. I hope that Apple realizes this and does not start to milk the platform while focusing too soon on alternative platforms.
Fortunately, Apple clearly mentioned that the technical resources assigned to the iPhone were “borrowed”, not transferred which leads us to believe that they should be soon back working for the Macintosh division. However, the clear disappointment felt throughout the Mac community should be received by Apple as a clear warning sign that many loyal customers are feeling nervous and that they need to see a very strong commitment from Apple to the Macintosh platform. We will all be watching closely Steve at WWDC.