Will Lion Be Apple's Last Boxed OS?

In what has become a yearly/bi-yearly tradition, Apple fans line up at an appointed time to get the latest version of the Mac OS X operating system at the nearest Apple store. (There are rumors that in my days working Apple retail, I may have had my hair painted as a tiger print to celebrate one launch. I will not confirm or deny.)

Are those days about to become a thing of the past? is the communal spirit of an OS launch about to disappear and be replaced, like so many things, with hunching over a computer in the solitude of your home and pressing "purchase?"

It would certainly seem that with the Mac App Store, Apple now has the perfect delivery model for the next OS, and it wouldn't be surprising if Lion ends up being available through the store. Of course not everyone can access the store yet, depending on how current their OS is. So this time around, shiny boxes of Lion at the Apple Store are pretty much a sure thing, but what happens next?

The most noticeable impediment to a download only model for operating system sales would be the lack of a backup disc, or other way to re-install if things go awry. But look at the iPhone and iPad: they both get along just fine without any kind of installation disk. Adding the ability to burn a startup disk at installation could be a quick solution, but given the indications that optical drives aren't long for the Apple world, a more innovative solution could be around the corner.

Sure people have already speculated countless ways the new Apple data center could be used, along with plenty of wishlist features/ideas for the next iteration of MobileMe. It doesn't seem like a stretch to think Apple could add the ability to remotely re-boot/re-install the operating system to those services.

Would the lack of a physical OS disk be bad? From Apple's perspective it is probably substantially cheaper to move bytes around, rather than shipping physical media. It would also cut out re-sellers like Amazon, Best Buy, etc: If you want the new OS, you go through Apple. It also wouldn't be a stretch to see one more aspect of iOS carry over to the desktop: free upgrades. With the cost of getting the OS to consumers reduced to the price of a download, and with the new features of each OS increasing hardware sales, or enabling more purchases from within the Apple eco-system (ie the App Store) it's certainly plausible for the OS price to drop to zero.

The bigger question would be what would this decision do to competitors, particularly Microsoft. If Apple commits to delivering free OS updates, how Microsoft continue to justify upgrades costing hundreds of dollars? Can Microsoft even survive without the revenue of OS updates? And won't they eventually have to bring Office into the App Store, where it will face new price pressures?

Stay tuned.

Ballmer at Keynote? One Possible Explanation

image: Crunchgear.com(It was fun while it lasted: Via Twitter, Microsoft says Ballmer will not be on stage at WWDC. Oh well, enjoy the speculation regradless:)

A rather strange rumor is making the rounds today. According to Global Equities Research, and reported by Boy Genius Report, Steve Ballmer will be in attendance at Steve Jobs' WWDC Keynote. They go so far as to say seven minutes have been blocked out for Ballmer to make an on-stage appearance. While Gizmodo is guessing  this is to promote the iPhone app development abilities of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, we're thinking there's something else going on here.

Could this be the rumored swap of bing for google as the default search engine on the iPhone? Heck maybe on the Mac itself. A partnership could even extend to maps for mobile devices.

Or let's take a stroll over to the world of crazy speculation: With J. Allard and Robbie Bach both leaving Microsoft, perhaps their decisions were partially influenced by some sort of impending gaming announcement between Apple and Microsoft. We throw that crazy one out there, just because in comparison the bing prediction looks pretty plausible.

What Tech Company Had All the Buzz This Year? Microsoft, Apparently

They say the numbers don't lie, but I have to take this one with a grain of salt. According to a post from Ad Week, the most talked about company in 2009, AND the most positively talked about company, was none other than Microsoft. What?

The study, conducted for Brandweek, is crediting those Laptop Hunters ads (funny, we haven't been seeing those lately) as part of an increased promotional campaign that helped Microsoft land the number one spot. A great quote from the post:

Bloggers often used terms such as 'easy,' 'efficient,' and 'better' in their online discussions about Microsoft, Said Zeta Interactive CEO Al DiGuido.

I'm blaming this farce on research bots; if I say, "Oh yeah, go try using Windows, it's real easy to use," then this post will probably be marked as being positive, although you can probably infer that it's anything but... Dang numbers...

TDL Live This Week: (10/12 - 10/18)

On the Apple news scale, we'll give this week a six out of ten. Definitely middle of the pack material. On this week's TDL Live, we talk about the latest from Psystar, Microsoft's danger(ous) problems, game ratings, app store pricing and more. Oh, and original TDL Live co-host Adam Ford drops by.

Get your workday started the right way: With half an hour of tech news!

Breaking News: Microsoft Doesn't Get It

As we mentioned last night on TDL Live, it's been reported that Microsoft has been contacting Apple retail employees, particularly managers to offer positions within Microsoft's own new retail stores.

It's one thing to ape the design of the store, to take something like the genius bar, and rename it the "guru bar." Heck, it's a lot like the "recycling bin" instead of the trash can. It's quite another thing if Microsoft seriously believes they can hire anyone of any merit away from Apple retail and into their stores.

(First a reminder/disclaimer that everyone here at TDL has worked for Apple in some retail capacity at some point.) People working at the Apple store generally fall into four categories: Apple evangelists, summer job seekers, teachers, and creative pros between gigs. Which one of these groups would be willing to go turncoat on Apple, let alone uproot their lives to work at a Microsoft retail store? Sure, getting someone higher up the food chain, like Ron Johnson (head of Apple retail) would be a coup, but that's not going to happen. The best you could hope for are some regional managers who don't feel comfortable at Apple because they come from other retail store background, or a few people who have had a bad experience working at Apple, and want to get some measure of revenge.

Again, which one of these two groups makes for a great staff? If you want retail managers who don't fit the Apple mold, just cut out the middleman, and look to other retailers. If you're seeking out those looking for revenge, do you really think it'll be long before they turn on Microsoft too?

Redmond has to learn that people are not programs or features, or icons. They are living, breathing things with emotions and common sense.

And really, that's all you need to see this is a really stupid idea.