Actually, Apple's PC business has never been better. They sold 5,198,000 Macs last quarter, a record. Mac sales are up 26% compared to the same quarter last year. Of course they sold 37 million iPhones, but the amount of revenue the Mac generates isn’t small by any means.
I don’t have a problem with them not shipping software that’s incompatible with how they do business; I suspect hackers and other clueful users will continue using the available tools like Homebrew to install whatever they want.
My statement, which was apparently unclear, is that PCs represent a declining share of Apple's business, and that hackers represent a declining share of that. That's not to say both aren't growing, but that neither is the keystone of Apple's future growth and success.
If Apple is driven by profit, then the main purpose of Mac, iPod, and even iPad these days is to sell more iPhones (brand halo and integration). Isn't that crazy?
Macs were only 14% of revenue last quarter ($6.6B/46.3B). By contrast, iPhones were 52% ($14.4B). And Macs have ~28% gross margin, while iPhones have ~60%, so they add even less than 14% to the profit picture.
While any other PC manufacturer would die to have Apple's Mac business, it's mouse-nuts to Apple.
Its also a stable base. The iPad might or the iPhone might die off to some competitive product, Andoid or whatever, but, as long as PC = Windows, there will be a large market for Macs (no, most people wont consider Linux)
I don’t have a problem with them not shipping software that’s incompatible with how they do business; I suspect hackers and other clueful users will continue using the available tools like Homebrew to install whatever they want.