APPLE WARES
Parallels Greases Wheels for PC-to-Mac Switch

Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) switch to Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) processors for its computer lines removed a major obstacle to greater adoption of its Macintosh platform among Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows users. That's because by throwing its lot in with Chipzilla, it opened up its hardware to run Windows applications and breeched a barrier that many PC users believed to be insurmountable.

Apple's move couldn't have come at a better time. While its Intel models began rolling off the assembly line, another trend, virtualization, began to gain traction in corporate environments, which, over the years, has been another tough nut for Apple to crack. Virtualization allows multiple operating systems to run on a single computer. What better way to satisfy Mac envy and calm the anxiety of switching from a PC than to run both OS X and Windows on the same box?

A number of software solutions quickly appeared in the market to take advantage of the new solution to the switching conundrum, but one from Parallels, headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, swiftly pulled away from the others.

Since Parallels introduced its first virtualization product for the Mac three years ago, attitudes among Windows users have changed, in part because of the Vista debacle, and the company's latest edition of its dual OS virtualization product reflects those changes. Called "Parallels Desktop Switch to Mac Edition" (US$99), the software is clearly aimed at getting Windows users who are buying Mac boxes.

Soft Landing for Win Switchers

Initially, the greatest interest in Parallels' desktop product was from Mac users who needed to run Windows applications, in many cases to meet the demands of their jobs. Now there's a wave of users who have PCs and want to move to Macs, according to Parallels Senior Director for Global Consumer Marketing Stefan Prestele. "People coming to the Mac who want to keep their heritage and investment from the PC side are the growth path for our company," he told MacNewsWorld.

The first wave of users were already familiar with how a Mac works, so they didn't need any hand-holding, he explained. That's not as true for the PC-to-Mac switchers.

"Yes, Mac is superintuitive, but once you start from scratch you need to be familiar with certain basics," he said.

"So we came up with a solution for someone who has not been on a Mac before, but wants to go there," he added.

That solution includes a 2.5-hour interactive video tutorial that explains the Mac's features and compares them to their PC counterparts.

Transparent Windows

As with other versions of Parallels Desktop, Switch-to-Mac includes the cabling and software to transfer an existing Windows setup from a PC to a Mac and run both systems in an integrated environment. That means running a Windows application from the Mac desktop is as simple as clicking an icon.

"You don't have to think about which operating system you're working in," Prestele said. "When you click on a Windows application, it launches. It actually launches faster with Parallels desktop than it does on a PC."

Windows integration is part Apple's subtle strategy to expand its corporate presence. That strategy includes leveraging the popularity of its iPhone and iPod products into home computer sales . Those home sales, in turn, are being converted into a workplace presence.

Sustained Enterprise Adoption

"Organizations at this point have, on average, 40 percent of their end users who are remote, mobile or telecommuting at least part of the time," Laura DiDio, principal analyst with ITIC in Grafton, Mass. told MacNewsWorld.

Those corporate workers, she continued, are approaching their IT managers or supervisors and asking to make their Macs their work machines. "In many cases, because the Mac is easy to self manage, companies are saying, 'Sure. Go ahead.'

"I've been tracking Mac usage in the enterprise for about four years," she observed. "At first it was a modest little uptick. Now I would really say it's a sustained trend. I'm not saying it's a tidal wave, but it just keeps happening.

"The amazing thing about this is it's happening without any formal marketing initiative on Apple's part," she added.