As some of you may be aware, it is possible to run Apple's Mac OS X operating system on regular PCs. Apple's licensing agreement currently does not permit this but its viability has been amply demonstrated (search for "OS X on x86"). The conventional wisdom is that Apple doesn't want to start licensing it's OS X / Mac operating system for PCs because they make a lot of money selling high margin Macintosh hardware and an OS X for PCs would cannibalize this. This analysis will show that there is potential to generate in excess of USD 3 billion in additional income for Apple, nearly doubling its latest income figures.

Let us start by assuming a USD 100 price tag for each home license. Based on OS X's simplicity, ease of use, superior features and "Mac halo" this is a realistic price when compared to Microsoft's Vista offering.

Let's assume that Apple is able to convert 3% or 30 million of the installed base of 1 billion PCs every year, that would add 3 billion dollars in revenue annually.