Apple’s Next Move

I have truly enjoyed watching Apple grow over the years. As a matter of fact, my first computer was an Apple LC II (16Mhz 68030 processor with 4Mb of RAM and a 80Mb hard drive) and so I’ve always had a special place in my heart for them. I have watched the iMac, the iPod, iLife and others as Apple has grown from a hardware/software company into a marketing machine. You don’t buy a Mac because of the superior technology; you buy it because of its coolness factor.

Don’t get me wrong, I own a 12″ PowerBook and you’ll hear me more often than not say “use the best tool for the job”. To me, Apple laptops are hands down the best laptops going. I bought my 12″ PowerBook for no more than the equivalent Dell and everybody that sees it oohs and ahhs. You can’t put a price on that. The big thing for me is that it does the job; email, ssh and presentations when I’m on the road. Best-tool-for-the-job.

Next up, check out that bitchin’ iPod. Another investment I have made recently is in the iPod mini … how frickin’ cool is this thing?! My wife even loves it and she hates technology … doesn’t get it. My father could even work this thing and more importantly read the screen. That is huge. The coolness factor and the hipness of the iPod design is something that sets it apart from other “devices” … at the end of the day, the iPod is a way of living, everything else is just a gadget.

To me, Apple is like Nike or Volkswagon … they are boutique marketing companies that farm out their manufacturing (well mostly anyways) to foreign factories, etc and are able to focus on design. Heck, even AMD does it; they rent/lease time at fabs now instead of owning/building their own. Genius IMHO. Take Volkswagon; what is the new Bug anyways? Its a frickin’ VW Gulf for crissakes … now put the two next to each other and tell me what has more of a coolness factor? What do I think they will do next? Look out for the next VW Scirocco … and it will be the frickin’ coolest machine on the block. But I digress.

So where will Apple head next? I see something quite obvious for them to move into and its the perfect blend of their strengths of marketing, product design and integration with all of their computing products; why don’t they go into the DVR/PVR market?

Think about it. Everybody in the world would love to own an Apple DVR/PVR … iTV if you will … it would be a sexy design, would integrate with technologies like Apple’s Airport Express and iPod and it could do pictures (a la the color iPod), play music, record your favorite shows and integrate with your other Apple hardware as seamlessly as saying “rendevous”.

I’ll be the first to step up to the plate and slap down my $699 for the iTV. Bring it on.