The Unofficial Apple Weblog has noticed that Apple is now hosting CNBCis report from last Friday about the release of Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger." While itis unusual for the company to place such a video on its Web site, the news piece is important because it emphasizes the opportunity Apple now has to capture additional market share, thanks to the fact that Tiger offers capabilities that Windows users wonit see for at least 18 months.
Bureau chief Jim Goldman starts by likening Apple to "a flashy sports car firing on all cylinders" while comparing Microsoftis oft-delayed Longhorn OS to "a street always under construction, with no end in sight." Then he cites comments from The Wall Street Journalis Walt Mossberg, who says Tiger "is the best operating system for consumers," and various analysts, including Pacific Crest Securitiesi Steve Lidberg, who sees "about a US$2 billion market opportunity" when looking at the active Mac users who could upgrade to the new OS. Goldman concludes by noting that Forrester Research thinks Tiger could double Appleis market share.
While Appleis Web page says that Mac users need QuickTime 7 to view the video, it ran fine in QuickTime 6.5.2 on Mac OS X v10.3.8. Windows users need QuickTime 6.5.