Apple bites back MUCH OF APPLE’S ATTENTION SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN ON CONSUMER PRODUCTS RECENTLY, BUT THE COMPANY HAS PLANS TO GET OUT AND MEET ITS LONG-STANDING CUSTOMERS IN DESIGN AND PRINT, SAYS APPLE UK’S MARK ROGERS. 20 <strong>Imaging</strong> <strong>12</strong> autumn 2002
W ith all the iMacs, iPods and i-everything else that Apple has been using to grab attention and win design awards recently, its customers in the graphics arts business could be forgiven for feeling a little ignored lately. That’s a perception that Apple’s UK sales director Mark Rogers is keen to challenge: “With Mac OS X and the new range of G4 PowerMacs we have our strongest offering yet for the graphic arts market,” he claims. A major goal at Apple these days is moving its installed base to OS X, the Unix-based successor to the MacOS 9. From next year all new Macs will be able to boot up only in Mac OS X, so sooner or later we’ll all have to make the move. But in many people’s minds the advantages of the new operating system are outweighed by the lack of a native version of one critical piece of software, QuarkXPress. X-appeal “You can still run QuarkXPress in Mac OS X’s Classic mode,” says Rogers, “and it works just the same as always.” But it’s not the ability to go on doing things as before that he really wants to talk about, it’s added benefits of doing them under Mac OS X that Apple wants us to understand. Some of the well-documented strengths of Unix – namely stability and “WE’RE APPOINTING PEOPLE WHO ARE RECOGNISED AS EXPERTS IN THEIR FIELD, SO CUSTOMERS CAN BE CERTAIN OF THE QUALITY” the ability to multitask properly– are brought to the Mac with OS X. “Imagine how much more work you can get through a prepress department on a computer that doesn’t have to be restarted several times a day,” he comments, “or one which has the ability to rotate a large image in Adobe Photoshop in the background while working on a spread in QuarkXPress.” Apple’s new Unix power is also attracting the attention of server and workflow developers, most of whom had turned to Windows NT machines to handle tasks like RIPping, imposition or OPI in recent years. “Adobe has developed its CPSI RIP for OS X, which will reach the market via its OEM customers and Helios and XiNet have OS X native versions of key applications already,” Rogers adds. INDUSTRY VIEW Mark Rogers, Apple Computer Those working in graphics-intensive applications such as Photoshop should also gain an additional performance boost in Mac OS 10.2 (aka Jaguar) which offloads CPU work to supported graphics cards, through its Quartz Extreme technology. This can achieve between two and three-and-a-half fold improvements in various common screen drawing operations, and frees the CPU for other work. Then there’s ColorSync, Apple’s keystone colour management technology. A founder member of the International Colour Consortium, Apple developed ColorSync as an add-on capability to the old Mac OS, but now it’s an integral part of OS X, built in at system level. Rogers also points out Apple’s advantage in controlling both hardware and software at this level – “it’s the best quality assurance you can get for colour management.” Taking it to the people Following in the footsteps of the wellattended Mac OS X seminars held early this year, Apple is planning to more proactively market its messages for the graphic arts world through roadshows and seminars. Key to these events will be Apple Solution Experts, carefully vetted and accredited third parties who can provide support, training and consultancy to Apple customers in a range of specialist areas such as colour calibration, AppleScript programming, media asset management and database management. “We have set the bar high for the Apple Solution Expert programme,” Rogers expands. “We’re only appointing people who are recognised as experts in their field, so our customers can be very certain of the quality.” In addition to these Solution Experts, Apple is keen to work with other vendors and resellers to provide the whole package in a single customer visit: “That way the customer gets a complete solution, the reseller adds value and we get a better understanding of our customers.” For specialist companies serving the graphic arts market, the Apple initiative could add some welcome marketing muscle. “A lot of these consultancy and support operations tend to stay focused within their own customer bases,” says Rogers. “We hope to provide a catalyst and a mechanism to help them reach a broader audience through our marketing activities; if we can be that link, it makes a lot of sense.” ■ <strong>Imaging</strong> <strong>12</strong> autumn 2002 21
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