What Will Kill OS X: iLife on Windows
With the release of iTunes and Safari on Windows, Apple Inc (former known as “Apple Computer Inc”) seems to be heading towards becoming a software company. Recent comments from Steve Jobs at D5 that “it’s all about the software” seem to reinforce that point. However, the bulk of Apple’s revenue comes from hardware devices (iPods, Macs and soon, iPhones). Since the switch to Intel, Apple has had to refresh their Mac lines more frequently than before to stay more price-competitive to comparably equipped Wintel boxes which has to be cutting into their Mac profit margins.
While the software is an important and differentiating part of the entire closed-system’s functionality I think the temptation to port iLife to Windows is probably very tempting to Apple because of software’s higher margins and hardware’s increased commoditization. The reason iLife hasn’t been updated in over 1.5 years could be partly due to the fact that they’re trying to release an iLife for OS X and Windows simultaneously. Indeed, there is fertile ground for an integrated digital media suite in the Windows camp as the Windows side is fragmented with one-off companies that are good at making DVD burning software, while others are good at authoring, while others are good at audio production but none of them really provide solid, well-integrated picture, audio, and video content creation and management as smoothly as iLife.
The problem is that iLife is practically viewed as part of the OS X experience. Indeed, an oft-repeated selling point of OS X is that it comes with all of this neato iLife software to manage your digital lifestyle. But if there’s a Windows version of iLife isn’t the reason to not use Windows less compelling, especially as it succeeds at becoming more and more secure as Vista has shown? And how many people will keep switching to OS X if they can do most of the things they love on a Mac also on a Windows box which is more open, more easily upgradable and costs less?
I think porting iLife to Windows would be great for Apple’s bottom line but would decrease OS X’s chances at becoming a more mainstream operating system and would more exclusively be relegated to the “media professional” market it so strongly dominates now. However, Apple could potentially sell more copies of iLife on Windows for $129 that would make up for the lost revenue of OS X/Mac sales.
