Apple’s Got All the Right Parts for NCs

Last week, Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison put on hold his very public effort to take over Apple Computer. Many in the Mac community breathed a sigh of relief: The prospect of Apple’s fate resting with a bombastic and egocentric database mogul had been causing considerable anxiety.

Ellison wanted Apple technology to help him supplant today’s desktop computers with network computers, or NCs. These inexpensive machines have limited memory and no storage, depending instead on central servers to run application software and store documents.

NCs are appealing to corporations looking to cut their computer-buying and support costs, and also for consumers who don’t want to spend $2,000 for a PC. But they don’t hold much appeal for artists and media authors, who want the Mac to remain the best graphics box on Earth.

Ellison has made all kinds of hyperbolic claims about the NC market, and the company he has set up to produce them has had trouble getting them to market. Still, anybody who has made a few billion dollars selling software and thinks that Apple could solve some of his key problems seems worth hearing out.

Ellison recognizes that Apple has all the pieces in place for building the best NCs. For example:

* A natural market. NCs could find a great home in schools--low-budget, high-volume computing environments that desperately need to cut costs. The Mac remains, far and away, the most popular computer among primary and secondary students and teachers, and the top-selling brand among college students.

* A natural for networking. The Mac was designed from day one for easy networking. That accounts for much of its popularity in education, where the geekiest teacher usually maintains the network during coffee breaks. Apple already has a relatively simple network-management tool specifically designed for the needs of schools.

* A simple operating system. Apple’s Pippin OS, designed for a Mac-like game device that never quite met expectations, is a perfect basis for a low-memory NC product. And the Mac’s forthcoming Rhapsody OS--the Next-Apple hybrid due in 1998--will be easily adaptable to NCs.

* The ability to innovate at low cost. Apple’s $700 eMate--based on its Newton OS--shows that Apple knows how to make an inexpensive machine that fills many of the needs of schoolkids. The eMate lacks color and its tiny screen will never fully satisfy game- and Web-savvy kids. But this durable, lightweight laptop boasts 24-hour battery life, handwriting recognition and wireless networking.

So Apple hardly needs Ellison to produce a credible NC-like device. But given its current financial picture, Apple’s focusing all its resources on developing its new OS and building compelling Macs, says Phil Schiller, vice president for desktop marketing.

To Peter Mehring, vice president of Mac clone maker Umax, this sounds self-defeating. Even if Apple can rebuild market share, it must show it can still provide strategic leadership in the marketplace, he says. “They need to lead to the next great thing, and that might be network computers.”

Mehring claims his firm, with Apple’s help, could build a $750 Mac-like NC by the fall. It would include a PowerPC processor, 8 to 16 megabytes of memory, a Zip drive, fast networking, a software modem and a monitor with decent color graphics. Not a Mac replacement--a Mac complement.

John Darago, a teacher at Meadows Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, recently e-mailed me the specs of his dream Mac--a reliable, reasonably fast box with a CD-ROM drive, 16 to 24 megs of memory, a 1-gigabyte hard drive and built-in ethernet for under $1,000.

“My school will buy a ton of them,” he says. “My elementary school kids aren’t doing CAD or sending rockets to the moon. They need to learn to keyboard, to prepare a report, to access CD software and the Internet at reasonable speeds.”

Darago says Apple’s current lineup is expensive and too hard to use. “Easy compared to Windows, hard when you’re a teacher of 36 with no training or time to be trained,” he says. “Let Apple get back to basics: Low cost and value in school computers. Huge volume. Huge future customer base.”

That wish list looks a lot like Mehring’s--or Ellison’s--NC. But Apple won’t spend a nickel on NC right now, Schiller says. Besides, as a portable $700 device that supports handwriting recognition and wireless communications, “the eMate is years ahead of NCs.” True enough. But I hope that’s not a rough draft for Apple’s epitaph.

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Charles Piller can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]