Don't Bundle the Playstation!

by: Conrad Gempf

If Connectix gets their Virtual Gamestation to market without a lawsuit by Sony, theres going to be a huge temptation for Apple to buy a licence and bundle it with new G3s, especially iMacs. The idea is that this would enhance the marketability of the iMac at the point of purchase, perhaps tipping the balance for a purchaser weighing up a Bondi beauty against a Dell dud.

In the medium to long run, however, it would be much healthier for Apple to allow the Connectix program to remain a separate purchase, while advertising the iMac's Gamestation readiness. The reason is simple: noise.

Im convinced that this 'noise' is one of the major reasons that PeeCees have won out over Macs in the consciousness of 80% of the public. The Mac has always had multiple typeface support, networking and sound card bundled into the machine. The PeeCees have not. As a result, when someone discovered how to trick a DOS machine into displaying and printing multiple fonts on the same line of text, this was News, and there were not only adverts in the computer magazines, but write-ups in the reviews columns and news sections. Such software became part of the software glut which Mac users always hear about: 'there are so many more software titles for the PeeCee than the Mac.'

For the fact of the matter is that the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the oil; it's the 'noise' that attracts the attention: Noise Wins. Bundling the imperfect Gamestation doesn't only cut off the necessity of improving it and cut off any incentive for anyone else to produce a better one. Bundling it means that it will be mentioned in journals as a couple of sentences in a review of the hardware rather than gaining further attention in a review of its own. Bundling it means that it will share the page of advertising that Apple buy, rather than filling another advertising page. Bundling it means less noise.

Now, I've always liked the fact that the Macintosh came with stuff you didn't need (yet) built in. It's so wonderful when you need to do something you've never done before, and find that the Mac can already do it. I don't think that Apple should take out the soundcard or the modems or the network support. But the Gamestation is not in that category.

Connectix's Virtual Gamestation is one of the best things to happen to Apple's reputation since the iMac advertising budget. Apple shoudn't put up any money to bundle it. But, if Apple does want to put some money in, Apple should subsidize any Connectix Gamestation advertising that shows an iMac and is printed in PeeCee magazines or non-computer mags like *Time* or anywhere but in Apple-focused magazines. Spend the money not to bring it into the fold, but to send it out into the world. It's time to say 'Lookee here' not to people who are considering the iMac, but to those who've never seen one.

Dr Conrad Gempf lectures in London and has had articles and product reviews published in such print magazines as *MacUser UK*, *MacTimes* and *Program Now*. He is webmaster of and regular contributor to the online webzine 'Pages for You' at http://www.londonbiblecollege.ac.uk

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February 09, 2010