Edible Apple

Psystar’s attempt to challenge Apple’s tying of OS X exclusively to Apple hardware took a turn for the worst recently when Judge Alsup granted Apple’s motion for Summary Judgment and ruled that Psystar’s entire business model infringed upon Apple’s copyrights, not to mention violating provisions in the DMCA.

Psystar has been selling unauthorized Mac clones since April of 2008, and with Apple’s recent victory in Court, Psystar’s days of illegally profiting off of Apple’s intellectual property are coming to a close.  When Apple filed its motion for a permanent injunction against Psystar last week, it included a slew of interesting and heretofore undisclosed tidbits about Psystar’s success, or lack thereof, as a company.

Apple noted in its most recent motion that Psystar sold only 768 clones, a pretty un-impressive figure, especially in light of the veracity with which Psystar attempted to fend off Apple’s lawsuit.

But even more interesting are a number of slides which Psystar presented to a number of venture capital firms in order to receive funding.  Psystar was even so bold as to claim that their ongoing litigation with Apple would insulate them from “other PC manufacturers who might want to leap into the OS X market but would be frightened off by Apple’s suit.”  Psystar goes on to say, “This presents us with a unique window of opportunity to gain market share and achieve brand recognition before competitors can even enter the market.”

Under Psystar’s conservative growth model, they anticipated selling 2 million Mac clones in 2011

But wait, it gets better. Under Psystar’s agressive business model, they anticipated selling a whopping 14 million! Mac clones in 2011 alone.

To put things into perspective, Psystar’s aggressive business model would have theoretically made it more successful at selling Macs than Apple itself.