Apple Leopard Hits A Home Run
Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple launched the latest version of its OS X on Friday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. and began selling it through its retail outlets and the channel.
"It's been selling very well" said Matt Cohen, co-owner of New York City-based Apple solution provider Tekserve. "It's definitely outselling the Tiger release, and I think there are a ton more reasons to [make this upgrade]. The features speak for themselves. They're significant and it's an incredibly rich experience for the users."
New features of the Leopard OS include Time Machine backup software, an updated Finder and Boot Camp, which allows users to start their Intel-based Macintosh computers in either Apple's OS or Microsoft Windows. More than 400 people attended a launch party that Tekserve held for the operating system on Friday evening.
"It's been incredibly stable, there have been a few glitches of upgrades, but it's been a phenomenal launch," said Cohen. "It's been great for us and great for Apple. If they sell two million copies in the early adopter program scheme of things, I think when the business users start to come over it will be significant numbers," said Cohen.
Once software used in the creative community like Adobe's Creative Suite are made Leopard-compatible Cohen said he expects business users will begin making the switch.
On the other hand, he said, corporate executives are already showing interest in the new OS.
"We're seeing corporate switchers at the top of the food chain. The execs at major corporations are now a very nice piece of our business. Now you're seeing the presidents and vice presidents and even some of the finance guys who use Boot Camp," he said.
"What's brilliant about Boot Camp is that it makes Windows the new Mac Classic [operating system]. You boot into OS X, and you get hooked on the lifestyle and productivity applications. When you boot into Windows, you do it because you have to," said Cohen.