Apple Previews Next Version of Mac OS X
Apple Computer Inc. on Monday previewed the next version of its Mac OS X operating system, which it said would include powerful search features that would put it far ahead of the next major update to Microsoft Corp.'s market-leading Windows software.
Cupertino, California-based Apple also introduced a 30-inch flat panel display -- its largest yet -- in a sleeker and trimmer housing, which adds to the 20-inch and 23-inch displays it already offers. That new offering puts Apple up against other PC companies that sell large flat panels, such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Apple's search technology, which it calls Spotlight, lets Mac users find any file, document or information created by any application on a Macintosh by entering the query in a search at the upper right hand corner of the desktop.
Simplifying the search process on a PC's hard drive has emerged as one of the major goals of both Tiger and Microsoft's next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, which is due out in 2006.
"What they've (Apple) done with search is a key element of Longhorn," said analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies, adding that Apple's next version of OS X, code-named Tiger, will be available to consumers at least a year or more before Longhorn.
Tiger will be available in the first half of 2005, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said, and will cost $129.
Apple, best known for its Macintosh computers and the popular iPod digital music players, last updated the Mac OS X in October 2003 with version 10.3, code-named "Panther."
With Tiger, Apple will have pushed out five major releases of OS X since its debut in March 2001. Apple unveiled the new version during its annual conference for software developers, in a bid to encourage them to write more applications that work with the operating system.
"We think we are years ahead of Longhorn," Jobs told about 3,500 software developers in San Francisco, referring to the forthcoming major Windows update. "The other guys have been talking about it and we're doing it."
Microsoft, the world's largest software company, unveiled Windows XP, the latest major overhaul of its Windows operating system, in October 2001.
Apple has been on a roll lately with the iPod and its iTunes Online Music store. It has sold more than 3 million iPods and customers have purchased more than 80 million tracks from the music store.
As successful as those two ventures have been, however, sales of its Mac computers remain Apple's largest source of revenue.
The company's global share of the PC market has remained at 5 percent or below in recent years, but Jobs has indicated the company is happy to be a profitable niche player.
The 30-inch high-definition display monitor will be available in August and cost $3,299. The redesigned 20-inch and 23-inch monitors will go on sale in July and cost $1,299 and $1,999, respectively.
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