Apple’s Desktops to Disappear Eventually?

Posted by Editor on Jan 25, 2010 in Apple, Tablets

The Appleblog offers up an interesting op-ed piece today regarding the future of desktop Macs as their portable, iPhone, iPod and soon to be tablet computers take a larger and larger share of the pie, literally.

The trend lines are no friend of the Mac desktop. For 2009, seven out of ten Macs sold were laptops, and in 2010 that ratio will likely rise to three out of four. While this may explain the single table of iMacs in the back of my local Apple Store, the question now becomes: is the Mac desktop doomed?

Steve Jobs once described Apple’s business model as an uncomfortable piece of furniture, a three-legged stool. What he was getting at is where the money comes from: Macs, iPods and the iTunes Store, and the iPhone.

Now couple this data with historical trends clearly showing that the success of portable computers comes as a direct expense of desktop machines.

This all makes perfect sense. Desktop machines are much more expensive than laptops and iPhones. They offer much greater expansion possibilities but are really only needed by specialty markets- such as professional video and audio applications. Also being obviously less portable they are less useful to business people and folks on the go. This is where the Apple tablet may come in to fill the gap. If the tablet appears as many have speculated with a dock including keyboard and mouse that converts it into a Mini iMac this may do away with the main usability advantages a desktop computer offers.

So if you’re in one of those industries where a desktop machine is required for your work, it might be time to start considering your options. No one expects Apple’s powerful professional applications like Logic, Final Cut Studio and Mac Pros to disappear any time soon. But there’s writing on the wall that it could happen someday and the tablet can do nothing but increase that possibility if it’s a success. Apple is a company that can be all things to all people, but where success is based on profit, they gotta go where the money is.