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Should Apple Buy Parallels?
By Mark Evans | April 11, 2007
Since being lured over to the Mac-Nation six months ago, it has been fascinating to see so many other people make a similar move. People, who a few years ago would have quickly dismissed the idea of moving to Mac as a complete non-starter, have decided to walk away from Windows. At the b5media meet-up last night, I was talking to a friend who said his entire company is preparing to move to Mac after being Dell laptop disciples for many years.
Part of their enthusiasm is that Parallels will continue to let them run Windows applications. For people unfamiliar with Parallels, it’s software that lets you run Windows (XP, Vista, etc.) on a Mac without having to reboot your computer. This is huge for people who are addicted to Microsoft’s applications such as Outlook, Internet Explorer and Project. My friend said Parallels, which sells for $79.95, is better than Apple’s Boot Camp software. In fact, he believes Apple should buy Parallels Inc. (Note: Given I have an unopened copy of Office 2004 for Windows, buying Parallels seems like a no-brainer vs. buying a copy of Office for Mac).
Aside from Parallels, I think Apple is also basking in the glow of the iPod factor. The coolness of owning an iPod is causing a lot of people to look at Macs, especially MacBooks, in a whole new way. It also helps that Macs come standard with so much user-friendly software such as iPhoto and GarageBand, which has been the way that I record podcasts.
Update: For some insight into why Apple customers are so fanatic and loyal, check out Blackfriars’ Marketing. Here’s an excerpt:
“The truth behind the scenes is not that Apple has a large group of customers that are too dedicated and passionate about their products, or the company as a whole. The reality is far more simple and obvious: Apple simply has a large group of very satisfied customers — and that’s the secret ingredient left out of nearly every analysis or op-ed piece that mentions these “zealots.”
Topics: Apple/iPod, Main Page |
April 11th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Yes: Because it will lure more converts. A lot of people like the “cool”-factor of Macs but don’t want to sacrifice productivity like you said. In which case Parallels would be a wise purchase for Apple.
No: There are many others out there. VMWare, Innotek VirtualBox, etc. I don’t see why Parallels has to be the one. I tried it. Kinda liked it. But reviews show that it has poor USB support and plenty of bugs to go around. And Parallels is NOT a Mac-only application. So Apple would be taking on development of software for its competitive platforms. Kind of counterproductive…
April 11th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Last night many of your attendees expressed their frustration that Skype would always release or beta new features in the Windows version first. The Skype people must have had ESP at work during these conversations. Today Skype released a Skype for Mac 2.6 beta where it has a feature not in the Windows version yet. More at Instant Action on the Skype for Mac Beta Issue.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Parallels is a classic customer security issue, knowinig you can continue to use what you’re familiar with yet get to run with a more transparent OS (tranparent to all the security and crash issues). My understanding is that Parallels can run in parallel with Mac OS whereas Bootcamp only allows you to be running in one OS at a time.