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Originally Posted by Apache
If Apple had licensed other companies to manufacture the hardware they could have concentrated on the OS and other software.
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From Wikipedia:
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Apple eventually licensed the Apple II ROMs to other companies. . . .
Apple's clone program entailed the licensing of the Macintosh ROMs and system software to other manufacturers, each of which agreed to pay a flat fee for a license . . .
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache
This would have made Apple computers more competitive with the PC and it might even had been possible that Apple would be dominating the Personal Computer Market today.
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Possible, but unlikely. Consider that Apple has the highest market capitalization of any company on the planet. As of October 25, Apple was, by my calculation
using figures here, 36 percent larger than number 2 Exxon-Mobile. If Apple had become much more successful than this, say, by dominating the desktop and laptop operating system market, trust busters would probably have broken them by now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache
If not for the iPod and iPhone, Apple may easily have gone under in the current economic climate.
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Every business strategy has risks, especially in industries with high levels of technological change.
Undoubtedly there is a certain level of laziness and incompetence that can destroy a company. But beyond that, I think more depends on luck than is acknowledged.