Yet Another Article on the Implications of Boot Camp

Since everyone else has put in their two cents, I figured I might as well pile onto the Boot Camp story. Note: since the story is a week old, this is what we call “perspective” in the news business, as opposed to “late.”

First off, all the chatter in the blogosphere about Apple reading the tea leaves, seeing the interest around the “Boot XP on your Intel Mac” contest and then rushing this out in response is bunk. This was probably in the works since the days of Project Marklar. Good timing yes, and Apple was smart enough to time this perfectly.

Now who benefits? Clearly Apple since anyone who’s been thinking of buying a Mac but hesitating because of that one application or game, can now have the best of both worlds. That’s a no brainer.

But I figure Microsoft must be pretty happy about this. Windows runs on any x86 hardware and now that Apple brings its three, four or five percent (whatever the current market share is) to the table, Microsoft has a chance to gain a few more percentage points in its marketshare. And don’t underestimate the importance of a few percentage points at the margins to a fairly mature (thirty year old) technology company that’s getting the evil eye from Wall Street.

Now who’s cringing in the corner, crying for their Mommy over this? I’m going to go out on a limb here. Definately not Dell. Dell is fine with its middle manager, safe-as-houses personality. They’ll always be the default choice for most of corporate America who likes boring.

I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark here and say the brands who’ll feel the pinch are Sony and Toshiba. Both have many multiple lines of business and profit centers and the loss of a few percentage points of market share in a low-margin business like PCs might push either or both out of the computer business.

Sony’s brand is all about style, which puts it right in Apple’s backyard. So if you want a stylish laptop that runs Windows, now you have a choice between Apple and Sony. I wonder who will win that battle.

Yes, I know I sound like Rob Enderle here. And Dell will open a chain of dry cleaning shops and Microsoft is opening theme parks. And if I’m wrong my name is not John Dvorak.