Apple's Leopard OS: Rip-Roaring Times Ahead
For Tech Data, sales of both the OS and hardware are expected to spike for its Apple specialized business unit and for associated technologies like storage networks, says Leslie Malone, director of client computing at the Clearwater, Fla.-based broadline distributor. Tech Data launched its Apple business unit in May of last year.
"The area where we think ultimately the real benefit is going to be is on the server product. Apple is doing a great job extending their reach into the enterprise. [We think the server version of Leopard] will further legitimize their ability to support their platform," says Malone.
Tech Data expects to see good pull-through of technologies such as RAID and other storage products when the server OS is on the market.
Malone says Tech Data has seen an increase in both sales and interest in Apple products from business end users and the VARs that cater to them, both Apple VARs and mainstream resellers that had not previously sold Apple products but are bringing the Cupertino, Calif., company's products into the fold.
"We've seen tremendous growth on both sides. We absolutely do see Apple becoming much more accepted as a mainstream platform, particularly in the commercial business world," she says.
Products such as Parallels Desktop software that allows users to run both Microsoft Windows and Apple OSes simultaneously on Apple machines make those machines more viable for users with Windows-specific business software that are nevertheless interested in using Apple hardware.
"We definitely see a great success story there for Apple, and for us as well. Apple is firing on all cylinders right now, and this is just one more element that is creating a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz in the channel for them. They're almost on a can't-miss roll right now," says Malone.
For reseller Angela O'Donnell, managing director of W. O'Donnell Consulting in New York, Apple has been picking up steam in the business market. "I think that there is much more interest in Apple products than there's ever been because of some of the innovations they've released recently. Also it's the availability of Windows compatibility," says O'Donnell.
In one instance, according to O'Donnell, a 130-person office expressed interest in transitioning its entire staff from PCs to Macs as it was formulating its 2008 budget.
"It's a big step. It's not a normal thing to do, so the interest is definitely there. Almost every single client that we work with has asked us if we should switch all of our machines to Macintosh," she says.
Matt Cohen, co-owner of New York-based Apple solution provider Tekserve, says Leopard has been selling very well. "It's definitely outselling the Tiger release, and I think there are a lot more reasons to [make this upgrade]. The features speak for themselves. They're significant, and it's an incredibly rich experience for the users."