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An interesting DELL/MACS speculation. Of course, Chris Howard somehow forgot to mention that Michael Dell himself very visibly thought "aloud" the very same concept about 6 months ago.

http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/713/

Dell Macs
by Chris Howard
Jan 04, 2006

This is pure speculation. No inside info, no rumor. I was looking in the tea leaves and they said “Non-Apple Macs”. Oh wow! I’m so clever! Only like the three millionth person to predict that since the Intel announcement. (There now I’ve saved you the trouble of flaming me). But I do have a new idea to throw into the mix, so bear with me.

So hey, let’s look again at those tea leaves. Lets see if there’s any bits of jigsaw been left lying around.

Hardware or software?
It has been argued before whether Apple are a hardware or software company. The answer’s easy of course. Software. It is OS X that defines the Apple computing experience, not the Macs themselves. Look at it this way (and we will get the chance soon): If you ran a different OS on a Mac would you still think Macs were the best computer out there? Vice-versa, if you ran OS X on a x86 noname clone, would it still be almost as good as a real Mac? Certainly, the best combination is a Mac running OS X but we’ve had clones before and some of them stacked up okay - and Apple didn’t fall over.

Apple is without a doubt, first and foremost, a software company. Even the iPod is highly regarded for it’s user interface.

It’s quite possible that if Apple could find a viable alternative to making Macs themselves, they might consider it. And with the impending switch to Intel Macs, the options are greatly enhanced.

Reading the headlines
If Apple were to get someone else to build their Intel Macs, it would firstly be a company with enough clout to get excellent pricing on components, and a company with a long history of building Intel PCs. HP? Dell? These spring to mind. But lets look at a few headlines that have caught my eye recently:

From eWeek: Dell Sales Hit a Snag


For the first time since 2001, Dell missed analyst expectations in both the second and third quarters, forcing it to revamp part of its PC business and lay off about 1,000 employees.
The report lists some things Dell needs to do, including forging more partnerships, although Apple aren’t mentioned as a possible partner. So it’s probable that Dell would consider all possibilities, especially in light of the next headline.

From InfoWorld: Mac OS on a Dell? Dell in favor, Apple opposed

If Apple Computer ever decides to let its Mac OS X operating system outside of its confines, the company can count Dell founder and Chairman Michael Dell as a possible customer.

With the recent news that Apple plans to become a fellow customer of Intel (Profile, Products, Articles) for x86 processors, Dell has expressed interest in selling Mac OS X-based PCs, he said in an e-mail to Fortune published on the magazine’s Web site Thursday.

“If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers,” Dell wrote in the e-mail.

Apple, however, is not keen on striking a deal with the world’s largest PC vendor.

“Mac OS X will only run on Macs. Apple has no plans to sell Mac OS X software to run on PCs,” an Apple spokeswoman said in an e-mail response to questions about Dell

Of course, Apple never reveasl their plans, so their denial is hardly worth the paper it could be printed on.

And from Digital Media Thoughts: Is the Dell/Microsoft Alliance Fracturing?

Recently, two things have made the news where Dell is not toeing the Microsoft line. First, was the announcement that Dell is trying out shipping desktop and notebook PCs in the UK with Firefox as the default browser, instead of IE. Today we have news that Dell is not going to support HD-DVD, despite reported incentives that recently induced HP to do so.
Dell have been supporters of Blu-ray for quite a while but the Firefox experiment does seem to be a toe in the water for looking beyond Microsoft. It also smells of “When your browser screws up the security and causes problems on the computers, the customer blames us, Dell, not you, Microsoft. It’s our tech support who have to take the call.”

So with their ties with Microsoft loosened, might Dell embrace Apple?

Dell Macs?
Now, armed with these tidbits, what do the tea leaves say about the upcoming Intel Macs?

a) Apple will stop selling Macs totally and Dell will sell them instead? Pfft! Nigh on impossible. The Mac stores - online and retail - would look somewhat silly without Macs but still with all the software and accessories. Even though hardware is not Apple’s core, it is dependent on it to maintain their image, credibility and standing in the marketplace.

b) Dell to become the manufacturer of Macs for themselves and Apple to sell? Reasonably possible. Apple sold about 1.2 million computers in it’s last reported quarter, and Dell around 9 million. That’s a lot leverage for Apple. Imagine Mr Corporate IT Manager jumping onto Dell’s website, or opening their brochures, and seeing Macs? Suddenly Macs would be in his line of sight. Dell could give Macs excellent exposure and credibility.

c) It’s time to take your medication Chris and go back to your room with the nice padding.

I know, I know, you’re all saying “c” but I’m saying “b”. I’m speculating that Apple just might outsource the manufacture of Macs to their former rival, Dell plus let them sell them. Unlike the last time though, these won’t be clones and Dell won’t be able to make up their own configuration. Whether you buy a Mac from Apple or a Mac from Dell, they will be the same machine.

Never say never
2005 was meant to be the Year of High Definition Video but turned out instead to be The Year of Anything’s Possible. We saw flash based iPods, a Mac under $500, a multi-button mouse, a video iPod and of course, the Intel switch. All at various times we were led to believe would never happen.

The idea that Apple would team up with Dell may seem far fetched and is pure conjecture, but we live in interesting times, and we should have learned now, to never say never.