Here's an example of what Apple won't do: Steve says Apple will not get into the home entertainment business--not during the next 24 months, anyway. You won't find Apple doing a personal video recorder, à la TiVo or Replay, or an advanced set-top box, à la Moxie.
According to Jobs, those devices have yet to catch on, a fact perhaps best borne out by Microsoft's recent staff cuts and reorganization of its UltimateTV unit. TiVo has had its problems, too.
SO MUCH for my idea that what Apple really needs to do is team up with a company like Sony and create a line of networked home-entertainment devices that combine the best of each company's strengths. If this is going to happen, it isn't going to be anytime soon.
Now here's what Apple will do. Steve drew on the whiteboard a diagram of Apple's view of the computer--a Macintosh specifically--as a user's "digital hub." While Steve wouldn't tell me what's coming next, it's clear he plans to stick to what he knows best: improving Macintosh and developing cool software to win new converts.
The latest of these are iPhoto, Apple's digital imaging software, and the Unix-based OS X operating system, which recently began shipping on all new Macs.
With the release of iPhoto, Jobs says Apple has made Macintosh the premiere platform for personal digital photography, trumping the features built into Windows XP. Likewise, the combination of iTunes, a Mac, and an iPod is the best way to capture, manage, and listen to digital music.
For digital movies, the best options are iMovie for editing, and iDVD for burning your own disks. Taken together, these products--free with the Macs they run on--give Apple customers creative abilities Windows simply doesn't offer.
THAT--PLUS SPIFFY IMACS'S popular prices--is how Apple is trying to broaden its reach into home computing. But Steve never got close to telling me how the company will do this. With most executives, I'd take this as a sign that no plan exists. With Steve, it's more likely he's just not willing to reveal it.
After all, the digital hub strategy has come together quite nicely, but the elements were never discussed in advance. Thus, Steve Jobs's vision for Apple seems to be revealed only in retrospect.
Steve and I talked about something that doesn't yet seem to have shown up on many people's radar: Apple's role as a Unix company. Few realize it, but Apple is rapidly becoming the largest volume manufacturer of Unix-based computers.
Of course, this isn't something most Apple customers think about much. Why? They didn't go looking for Unix, they just bought a Mac with OS X. Unix just happens to be at OS X's core.
MOST MAC USERS will, thankfully, never see the complexities of Unix that lie beneath the sleek Aqua user interface. But among people who know Unix, OS X is beginning to attract attention, Jobs told me.
The new OS has already begun to open doors into companies that have relied on Unix-based scientific workstations and to corporate developers creating projects for Unix mainframe systems.
These corporate developers, Apple says, have become big customers for the G4 PowerBook, the inch-thick Titanium-clad notebook that, with OS X installed, happens to be a Unix portable, too.
Since I am not qualified to judge OS X as a Unix variant, I asked several smart friends to tell me what they thought. These included academics and the co-founder of what was once a major Unix company. All agreed that OS X is a "real" Unix operating system, but they also pointed out some small compatibility issues that still need to be addressed.
"This is Unix from about 1999," one expert told me. "They have a little catching up to do, but it's definitely a Unix I could use."
SO WHILE JOBS is happy to talk about Apple's future as a Unix vendor, he's not harping on it. But behind the scenes, Apple is quietly gearing up, adding technology evangelists, developer support staff, and the other people and programs necessary to launch a drive to sell OS X versus other Unix systems.
Apple is already promoting OS X as an upgrade to the creative professionals who are already Apple customers, but have been using Unix systems for more complex projects.
Likewise, Apple plans to sell OS X to the academic markets where Macintosh remains strong and where Unix has its roots. Typically, these Unix users have multiple machines on their desks--often a Unix box or terminal and a Windows machine or a Mac for productivity applications. With OS X these two (or three) machines can be reduced to one.
Apple also wants to talk to corporate Unix developers who, like the academics and scientists, often require multiple desktops, and represent a potential OS X market as well.
JOBS SAID Apple will choose its Unix targets carefully. It does not plan a full-frontal assault on Sun or Hewlett-Packard or, well, anyone.
Still, if Apple can succeed as a Unix company, even in a modest way, the company has the opportunity for significant growth. With growth--and particularly more developers using OS X as a platform of choice--Apple could find the momentum it has been lacking.
Jobs has done many good things at Apple since his triumphal return. But his greatest feat may have been to bring the Mac to Unix (or vice versa). Then again, like everything else he's done lately, we'll realize it not by looking out through the windshield, but by looking into the rear-view mirror.
