Mac OS X users approach 10 Million 




Building on the already record breaking success of Mac OS X version 10.3 "Panther," Apple today announced that there are now over 9 million active users of Mac OS X and the company expects to cross the 10 million user mark later this quarter. Additionally, there are now over 10,000 Mac OS X applications that run natively on the platform.

"Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X in three years and we plan to reach 10 million active Mac OS X users this quarter, which is 40 percent of our entire installed base," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing in the press release. "This is a major milestone in the successful adoption of the world's most advanced operating system."

Developers including Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia announced second or third generation products for Mac OS X at Macworld Expo, with many including "Mac-first" and "Mac OS X-only" features, while other companies joined the Apple developer community with new products supporting Mac OS X.

"Microsoft is thrilled to announce Office 2004, the most innovative version of Office yet, and our second release of Office for Mac OS X," said Roz Ho, Microsoft's general manager of the Macintosh Business Unit in the press release.. "Office 2004 is packed with Mac-first features -- some of which are not available on any other platform. We look forward to continuing our 20 year tradition of developing innovative products for the Mac with the upcoming release of Office 2004 and more in years to come."

"Panther builds nicely on the fundamental strengths of stability and performance that Apple has established with the Mac OS X platform," said Jack Moran, vice president of Product Development, Macromedia in the press release.. "Macromedia delivers all of its core development products in Mac OS X versions to ensure our Mac developers and designers are running their development tools of choice on their platform of choice."

"Adobe and Apple kick-started the desktop publishing revolution and today Adobe Creative Suite and Mac OS X are entrenched as mission critical platforms for creative professionals worldwide," said Jim Heeger, senior vice president of Creative Professional Products at Adobe in the press release.. "This week we announced InDesign CS PageMaker Edition, designed to take advantage of Mac OS X Panther and Apple's latest Power Mac G5 Systems -- and simply the easiest way to upgrade to a next-generation publishing platform."

"We are looking forward to seeing the next generation of LEGO Interactive games appearing on the Mac platform," said Garry Edwards, business development director for LEGO Interactive in the press release.. "Macs offer a great gaming experience thanks to Apple's cutting edge technology, support of high end graphics cards and their new Mac OS X Panther operating system."
 

Posted: Wed - January 7, 2004 at 12:36 AM        

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