the only way i'll ever use anything apple is if they open up their operating to be usable legally on a pc. that's about it.

License OSX.

Or at least offer some alternative for entry-level users.

Allows other companies like dell etc to make macs. Really if mac osx is such a great os so much better then pc then why the so call "quality control" instead of opening it up for the greater public not everyone needs a pearl white mac.

offer competitive pricing by getting rid of apple tax.

embrace hackintosh by decoupling osx from apple hardware, sell os for any pc that supports minimal configuration

offer unlimited access for itunes and unlimited download for ipod, like available for other players.

stop making it hard for hardware and software vendors to integrate ipod

allow ipod to play wma (drm) encoded multimedia content, music and videos.

replace objective-c with java, it's much easier and there are more tools and larger community of developers.

Not much, they seem to be doing just great right now. I would like them to hurry up and nudge up the processors for the price points in the Mac Pro range though. They should also discontinue the white MacBook and bring the Alu MacBook down to the White MacBook's price point. Of course, these are things that *will* happen soon enough anyway.
The 'market share' loss is due to the vast number of netbooks swamping the market right now. The profit on netbooks is bugger all though and would not be worth Apple's R&D costs. I'd also like them to release a new 30" ACD, its been a while.

forgot, sell to ibm...

Low prizes... i can't buy a mac, but maybe i can buy better hardware(much better) and just install linux /original windows/pirated windows/ whatever i want... It's not mac hardware anymore.. its just super prized operating system, we already have windows for that. I want you to offer low cost hardware and/or low cost operating system or any other low that may affect the final prize of your computers. it's not about gaming, or running this or that other program.. gaming on linux sucks too, but is free.. and BECAUSE its free, we now can use a lot of programs or virtualize them.
LOW YOUR PRIZES!!!!!!!! AND GIVE ME A FREE MAC PLEASE!! hahahaha...

HAVE A REAL DESKTOP MID TOWER for $800+ or maybe core i7 for $1000 - $1500+

the thing that apple does not understand, at least what i think, is that they have a great product, but they act as if they have the noses up in the air, which is good for that 1 percent of the market that can afford it!

Well, easy! computers are more than mere decoration (for most people anyway).
Drop the aesthetics in favour of lowered pricing, improve the performance, cut the crap with the flashy looks on the OS like the windows when you minimize them, that just makes the user lose time. Make something out of that that will allow people to work on it, not just post useless news and blogs and the like. Right now the best use a Mac can get is look good on a desk, and that's it. It doesn't have any performance advantage against any other PC, plus it's more expensive.

One has to wonder though, why the **** does anyone buy them? Unlike art, these depreciate over time...

The only way for me to use a mac is to let me install it on my own build and have software (including games)readily available. And to eliminate the Apple Tax, but I think that would come with the whole "let me build my own" thing.

I hope that this small "Apple hysteria" at Tom's will blow over soon because that's really not why we come here. I think that we are here because we have decided to go windows and want to make our experience the best and cheapest possible, something that is hard to do on a mac.

As most have put it, open up the OS so that anyone with a PC can pick it up off the shelf and use it. Give it a competitive price, and the people who would have otherwise gone for windows, will probably want Apple. This gives additional revenue as the more people who buy the OS, the more companies that will be interested in putting the "compatible with MacOSX" stickers on their hardware, more people interested in doing courses to "support OSX", I think Microsoft understands this ecosystem very well, and probably makes huge amounts of money out of it, really, I'm surprised they still want to charge people money for their OS.....Anyway, back to Apple....make a deal with nintendo to provide wii channels for the iStore.... the list continues

Let OSX run legally on PCs. ie. home built, but may be not one's from Some of the cr@ppy quality PCs from OEMs will probably give Apple a bad name, among the Mac users lol. Not to mention the Mac fan boys will flip out.

Stop focusing on looks and focus on functionality instead. It's really annoying not having a real power button on my ipod.

OPEN THEIR PLATFORMS UP! if their operating system is so awesome, let it withstand the barrage of random hardware that windows does, let developers develop for it and the iphone without their constant pestering and filtering. none of this requires them to compromise there current position of high quality through controlling all hardware and software released under there brand, keep your app stores and imacs, just let people who want the freedom have it!

I will NEVER use an apple product that requires me to download and install itunes for example. I think I despise iTunes from years ago when it was bundled with quicktime. Speaking of which... that is so clunky and slow, as a player it's ok, in terms of performance it runs so much slower than WMP or DivX player.

I can deal with windows being closed source OS, the only way for me to consider switching to OSX at this stage is if it goes open source.

Sadly there isn't much Apple can do at this stage other than becoming more open and dropping the prices on as many products as they can. The economic environment is tough and as much as I dislike Ballmer he's right about the $500 mac tax. Apple simply has to hunker down and survive the current bad economy. After this period is over they did some things very well, I like their approach to designing their hardware look and feel. I would consider buying an iPhone if I didn't have to install quicktime to connect it to my PC lol.

install ITUNES rather than quicktime.

Beg MS to licence them DX tech so that they could play games... Probably impossible, but because most games are DX not openGL, gamers never have the option of going macintrash... unless they want to use bootcamp...fight drivers and pay a whole lot more for a whole lot less in terms of hardware.

i've bought two ipods that are affordable. and you've recently taken drm off of itunes which allows me to put it on a different mp3 player. so why aren't you going to license other manufacturers to put your OS on their model of computers.

people please don't separate Macs and PC's into different categories. they're the same thing. except a different OS.

Opening up OS will not solve any Apple problems, except stop the incessant wining from the Windows/open source community. It will open up many new problems that will probably sink the company. It would turn Apple into Microsoft. Apple is a hardware company not a software company. It need to focus on making great hardware like it has been.

1. What they really need to do is come up with a midrange computer line that is not an all-in-one. Let's aim at those weekend photo/video warriors who like to do photoshop and Final Cut but don't do huge batch processing or complicated effect. It needs good graphics but not two xeon processors. $800-1000 range. I would have bought one, but instead I built one and use E-fix to run OSX. And not some huge mid/full tower. How about a nice sleek home theater or SG01/Shuttle style case.

2. They need to find some way to write drivers for the latest graphics cards. Hello SLI???

3. Change that stupid little mouse!

4. Come out with an affordable line of monitors to go with those mac minis. $900 is a bit high.

Lower your prices and don't be isolationists. If people want to run OSX on pc hardware, let them. Don't force people into using an incredibly small portion of the available computer hardware out there just because you tell them thats all they can use. I'm sure they could work out some deals with hardware manufacturers to help keep the prices lower if they didn't just contract with 2-3 vendors, or opened things up to all manufacturers.

People rip on windows, but when compared to OSX the legacy support and just huge amount of hardware and peripherals that work with Microsoft OSs is just incredible. You cant say the same for OSX, not by a long shot.

I'd say: stop being so insistent that your a hardware company when your hardware is everyday and plain, but your software (osx) can be so much more if you'd pull your head out of your butt and listen to what people want sometimes, instead of telling them what they want

Before I'll consider OSX, Apple needs to create development tools on par with Visual Studio/MSDN.

There needs to be a cheap entry point (like Educational VS2k8 Pro, which is nearly free) so that curious enthusiasts can dip in their toes, and options for professionals that provide cheap legal access for development and evaluation (like MSDN).

Make an ipod that you can just use like a flash drive. I loath itunes! I will never buy an apple music player for that sole reason.

Lince OS X, and stop their bashing of everything. Oh, and open their platforms to the third party.

I'm sure no one wants to have their product that they use and love bashed by some company that thinks its best at everything. Especially when half their points are either fabricated or not applicable today.

Open up the operating system so I can run it on any hardware that has the necessary computational power. Start making machines with REAL desktop processors and better cooling so that I'm not sacrificing performance and so that my laptop-grade proc isn't constantly hitting TJunction. Offer free "DRM to DRM-free" music upgrade on itunes. Allow re-download of purchased tracks if necessary, a la emusic...

I could think of way more...

Make Garageband for Windows.

market to more than one style. I hate shiny things. Make a mac that looks like a beast...

give users more options and OPEN OS X... meaning: allow us to install it on our own hardware instead of hardware that has been "designed by apple in CA".

Make an actual desktop that runs in the same price range as PC's, as in around $600. I would love to try OSX, but for the price you pay for an entry level Imac, I can build a way better PC.

Apple cant be competitive with their current buisness model. Then run a dumbed down unix OS with flashy buttons on a very specific set of hardware that requires extensive QA costs and expensive warranty service. Not to mention their bazillion dollar advertisement schemes.

The only way they could become competitive is to lower their Hardware prices, which would prevent them from keeping their QA labs. (And their advertisement team.) Or they'd have to compete on a software level with Microsoft, at which point they'd reveal that their OS is just a dumbed down Unix port, and would die out very quickly to Driver and security problems. (And likely canabalize their Hardware department as well)

Apple doesnt offer a truely unique and value oriented product for todays technology. They cater to a specific niche, and if they tried to move outside of that niche, they'd fail miserably.