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In the midst of all the excitement over the new aluminum-bodied PowerMac G5s and how powerful they'll be, it has occurred to some (including one of our readers) that the dual-processor speedster is so powerful, it would surely do everything most people outside of the graphics and desktop publishing industries ever need for years to come. In other words, this is such a giant step forward, buying one of the 2GHz models would set some folks up for life. And you know what that means, don't you?

A maturing personal computer market, absolutely. The new G5 is not a "disposable" computer, and with the technology developed to this degree, once everyone has the G5 of their dreams in hand, it could be quite a while before they need to buy another one. In this light, consider Apple's move into areas like music downloading: revenue sources apart from selling computers, just what the situation demands.

We were just about to comment on this topic when a reader whose thoughts ran in exactly the same channels sent us the following. Perhaps we should have asked him if he wants a job:

While this new PowerMac is "not your father's"...it could very will end up being your (or anyone's) son's or daughter's Mac, for a long time, much like handed-down tools of any kind that get the job done.. This system (and its coming upgrades) is so much more powerful than most consumers need, and powerful enough for the conceivable needs of most pros for a long time to come, that we may be seeing the beginning of the maturing of the desktop (and tower) computer markets ...

So Apple, with its new iTunes store and runaway favorite iPod consumer product, may just possibly be making the type of visionary product/service shifts that will ensure its viability as a profitable "computer company" for a long time. At the very least, we can hope it plays out like that. Imagine a future in which Apple's hardware R&D budget comes primarily from non-computer revenues. It could happen.

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