Filed under: Apple
Jobs: Mac has 'momentum,' nearly-annual OS updates will continue
As of Friday, Apple will have released five major updates to Mac OS X since its introduction in 2001 (unless you want to count the public beta. Nit-pickers). In Monday's interview with The New York Times, Steve Jobs said this pace will continue:"'I'm quite pleased with the pace of new operating systems every 12 to 18 months for the foreseeable future,' he said. 'We've put out major releases on the average of one a year, and it's given us the ability to polish and polish and improve and improve.'"
That's a lot of innovation in a short amount of time. Considering the changes between 10.0 and 10.5, can you even imagine what 10.9 will look like? Steve also says that the Mac platform appears to have gained momentum with buyers, which should come as no surprise to our readers. Is the Mac reaching a tipping point with switchers and new customers? Maybe the upcoming earnings report will offer some clues.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andrew said 5:13PM on 10-22-2007
Apple has executed a marketing plan perfectly. Their continued growth is in converting PC users (like me). Vista was the best thing to happen to Apple, I can't wait to make the jump to Mac - as I can't afford the headaches and downtime I will have with Vista.
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Mike B. said 5:25PM on 10-22-2007
I know the plural of "anecdote" is not "data," but over the last year, everyone I know has gone Mac. Two of my best friends bought MacBooks, as did my sister, my mom got a secondhand one and is raving over it, my aunt and uncle are on the fence, and my roommate's about to buy a MacBook and an iMac. All this after I've been telling everyone to switch for years--something's going on that's giving people the courage to do it now.
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Sam said 5:39PM on 10-22-2007
Mac 10.9??
what are they gonna do after that, release Mac OS XI?
sounds kinda...awkward.
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Mo said 6:21PM on 10-22-2007
@Sam: It would be 10.10.0, if they wanted to do a 10.x release after 10.9.
Looks ugly, but no more weird than 10.4.10 or 10.4.11, say. Mac OS XI would be “Mac OS 11”, which would be a different beast altogether (and also looks ugly).
I wonder when they're going to run out of sane cat names. IIRC, Apple made sure it had the rights to call at least one version “Lynx”, and I'll bet “Cougar” is in there somewhere… that only really leaves “Lion” which sounds lame.
My bet's on going back towards something creative, and dropping the “X” after 10.x. Maybe not music, though. Mac OS “Kubrick” (11.0), anyone?
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yakov chodosh said 7:11PM on 10-22-2007
probably just "OS 11" (as in "This one goes to 11. (c) a previous tuaw poster")
Anyway this is great news.
I already have 10.4 and it works... and if it's just a year out... I'll wait for 10.6 before doing anything
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Bo said 1:19AM on 10-23-2007
Nearly-annual? 10.3 was released 4 years ago. That's biennial, not nearly-annual.
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artifex said 10:22AM on 10-23-2007
"Kubrick" is what all those hacked iPhones are running after the firmware update. Heh.
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smartsingh said 7:15PM on 10-24-2007
I'm hoping for Mac OS X Sabretooth Tiger :)
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