Steve Jobs wanted Mac OS X on Sony Vaio laptops

Spread the love

Apple CEO Steve Jobs wanted Sony to put Mac OS X on its Vaio laptops in 2001. That says a well-known Japanese IT journalist based on conversations with Sony top people. Apple already had Mac OS X running on Vaio laptops at the time.

Jobs wanted to convince former Sony CEO Kunitake Ondo by surprising him during a vacation in Hawaii with a Vaio laptop running Mac OS X. That happened in 2001, when Mac OS X just came on the market, says the Japanese it journalist based on Ondo’s memories.

Sony didn’t like the plan, however, as it was in the process of aligning its hardware and software with the upcoming Windows XP. Apple had a Vaio laptop running Mac OS X when it explored an idea to run Mac OS X on Intel hardware. That worked quickly, as was apparent from an earlier story by the engineer’s wife who was involved in this. Apple wouldn’t make Mac computers with Intel processors until 2005; before then they ran on PowerPC architecture.

Jobs had stopped the program to license Mac OS to other manufacturers after he returned to Apple’s directorship in the 1990s. Even after the proposed deal with Sony, no third-party products came with Mac OS X. Jobs would have wanted to make an exception for Sony, because the Apple leader has admired the company. In the past, Sony focused exclusively on the higher segment with its Vaios. The Japanese group is currently on the verge of selling the division.

The laptop that never came: mockup of a Sony Vaio Pro 11 running Mac OS X

You might also like