June 2005: there were worries that the ‘sun will set on our coveted Macs’

At the 2005 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, Steve Jobs announced that the first Macs with Intel processors would arrive a year after the event. Instead, Apple worked to get this done in half that time. 

At the MacWorld Expo in January 2006, Apple unveiled a fresh slate of Macs running on the new Intel Core Duo processor. That set off a lot of speculation that the Mac was doomed.

An an August 2005 editorial, Ira A. Gold, contributing technology editor of Electronic Publishing worried that those in the graphics industry were watching “the sun set on our coveted Macs.” Others felt the same way: that Apple would transform over time into a software-only company

Gold wrote that Apple’s plans to move the Mac to Intel chips meant that “Apple will, no doubt, lead the way in creative computing ideas just to stay ahead of the crowd,” at least for the short haul. He also felt that Apple would undoubtedly attract developers from many markets that couldn’t previously afford to develop for “Apple’s small market share.” However, Gold believed that it was just a matter of time until the macOS (then dubbed Mac OS X) would run on all Intel-based systems. At that point, Apple would quit making Mac hardware, license MacOS X to other companies, and concentrate its software line-up only, Gold said

“Jobs will have to reinvent Apple as a software company to survive the long haul,” he added. 

Of course that never happened and Apple still makes a bundle of money selling Macs. And it’s only a matter of time before the platform begins using Apple-made ARM processors. Whatever happens, it’s never boring being a Mac user. And it’s going to be an exciting decade or two ahead.