With all the hoopla surrounding the iPhone and the new matchbox-like iPods, it's easy to forget Apple remains at its core a computer company.
Steve Jobs and Co. are set to remind the world about their first love in coming days with the release of Leopard, the newest version of the Macintosh operating system, which will update the current Tiger. Apple, which prefers not to pre-announce anything, has made an exception with a promise to let its latest cat loose this month. The company attributed a half-year delay to work on the iPhone, which hit the stores in July.
"Some have said Apple is pushing the Mac out of the way" for other gadgets, said Rick Shim, an analyst with market research firm IDC. "I wouldn't say that's the case at all. The Mac is still central to their universe."
The company in January dropped "computer" from its name and become simply Apple Inc., but its Macintosh computers generate more revenue than any other Apple product.
Its U.S. computer sales are growing at some 2 1/2 times the pace of the overall PC industry. In its most recent quarter, Apple sold 1.8 million Macintosh computers, which was the most ever for a quarter and 33 percent more than the same period a year earlier. The computer sales generated $2.53 billion in revenue.
But the company continues to update its PC line. Just in August, Apple unveiled a new line of even more svelte iMac desktops. Now it's ready to draw the curtain on a new operating system.
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"Even though these other products are getting headlines, Apple continues to refresh and innovate (its computer business), even when they don't have to," Shim said. "If they didn't put Leopard out, they'd still be doing well in the market."
Leopard, more evolutionary than revolutionary, isn't expected to cause the kind of stir that occurred when Apple launched iPhone earlier this year or announced in 2005 it was switching to Intel's microprocessors. But analysts say springing Leopard on the market now will once again allow the Cupertino company to trumpet its consumer-friendly software.
Among Leopard's highlights - the company says there are more than 300 new features - is Time Machine, a function that is sure to please those whose lives are increasingly becoming digital. It is classic Apple: Take something as dull as backup and make it sexy.
The feature provides a seamless way to retrieve deleted files, applications, photos and other material. It gives the appearance of backward time travel, automatically backing up everything on the Mac to an external hard drive or server. This capability alone could be worth the price of the upgrade if it makes an irritating and sometimes difficult, but crucial, chore a one-click snap.
The feature Spaces will let users jump between applications with a simple keystroke or click. There are updates to Mail, including simple functions to create to-do lists and files for notes, which is aimed in particular at those who treat e-mail like a calendar by sending themselves reminder messages. The to-do lists will automatically sync with iCal, the Macintosh calendar. Data detectors will "sense" phone numbers, addresses and events so they can be easily added to Address Book or iCal. There are also 30 professionally designed stationery templates.
Apple's iChat will get upgrades that will allow people to add photo and video backdrops, giving the appearance they are somewhere they are not.
Another feature lets users create their own Dashboard widgets, small applications that deliver, for example, weather information on desktops.
Other additions include a menu bar that floats "transparently" on the desktop; the ability to de-clutter the desktop by storing documents, applications and folders in a stack that springs up in an arc when it is opened from the dock; and Quick Look, which allows users to flip through files, even video, without opening them. There's also a parental control content filter and the ability to limit the times children can use the computer.
Boot Camp - the free test software that lets users of Macs running on Intel chips to choose at start up whether to run the Mac OS or Windows operating system - will be built into Leopard. Apple will also ship a complete set of Windows drivers with Leopard, so that Windows applications will be able to use the Web cameras and other hardware features built into the Macintosh computers.
"I would put this under the category of, it's a nice upgrade, but it's not a game-changer," said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
At the very least, he added, he expects a good number of the 15 million Tiger software users to be tempted to upgrade immediately. That's because 2.5 million people have downloaded Boot Camp, and if they want to continue to run Windows on a Mac, they'll need Leopard. Apple will no longer support the beta version of Boot Camp with important fixes.
The company's Macintosh computers have been gaining market share, due in large part by its switch last year to Intel processors.
As of the second quarter this year, Apple had 5.9 percent of the U.S. market based on PC sales, up from 4.8 percent for the same period a year ago, Shim said. Globally, Apple had 3 percent of the market, up from 2.5 percent for the same period a year ago.
"If Apple is able to deliver on all of the stuff they are showing to date with Leopard, there is no doubt in my mind they will have another hit on their hands," said Michael Gartenberg, research director at Jupiter Research.
Apple in recent weeks has hit a few bumps in its usually polished PR campaign, though.
Last month, Jobs announced that Apple was discontinuing a 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone and slicing the price of its 8GB version by $200 to $399 - just three months after its launch. To placate disgruntled early adopters angered by the quick price drop, Apple offered a $100 store credit. Other iPhone users were ticked off when Apple's iPhone software update shut down, or at least created problems, for iPhones rejiggered to work with a cellular carrier other than AT&T.
Even the recent dust-up with iPhone customers, though, isn't expected to hurt Apple's long-term image as the titan of cool tech. Assuming Apple's Leopard release goes smoothly, analysts believe Apple is looking to have a great holiday season with new-look iPods, the iPhone and a fresh line of computers and software.
"Despite an over-hyped phone, in our opinion, we believe Apple's business continues to accelerate and is firing on all cylinders going into December," W.R. Hambrecht analyst Matthew Kather wrote in a late September note to investors.
"Certainly, you can't complain if you own the stock," quipped Scott Rothbort, president of LakeView Asset Management, an investment adviser in Millburn, N.J., that owns Apple shares. "As an investor, if you can think out of the box, you will see where this company is going."
Leopard is priced at $129 for single copies, and $199 for the family pack, which includes licenses for as many as five users. Leopard, along with other digital lifestyle software, will be bundled with every new Mac laptop and desktop computer.
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