The other shoe finally dropped: Apple is reportedly out of the printer business. Remember back when you could buy Apple printers (inkjet and laser), Apple scanners, and Apple digital cameras? Sure, they cost a bit more than third-party offerings, and often weren't quite as nice, but some people really liked knowing that drivers for their Apple-branded peripherals would definitely be compatible with their Macs-- or, at least, if they weren't, they'd be able to raise a stink with the mothership. (Plus they had cute little rainbow logos on them; don't forget that.) Most of that stuff got dropped, though, when the company was forced to refocus or die. Scanners went first, we think, followed by the QuickTake cameras, and then printers vanished one by one-- until all that remained beyond Apple's core product lines of computers, monitors, and software, was a single printer: the LaserWriter 8500. And now, the Mac Observer reports that the 8500 is on its way out, completing Apple's exodus from the peripherals business.

So is this news a big deal? Not really. It always seemed kind of strange to us that Apple would sell so many peripherals when better products for less money were available from dozens of third party companies. Back when they were offered, did you ever notice the price of an Apple-branded external hard drive, for instance? You'd think they were imported from Saturn. We even have a vague recollection that Apple sold speakers, which strikes us as just plain superfluous. Granted, laser printers don't really fall into the same category of "huh?" as speakers do, but with excellent Mac-compatible printers available from several other companies, we'd much rather see Apple focus its efforts and resources on making killer computers and killer software to run on them.

That said, we wouldn't mind if Apple started making completely unrelated products, like kitchen appliances. Specifically, we'd like a waffle iron that brands the apple logo into every waffle it makes. An iMac-themed microwave oven would be nice, too-- you could watch your food cook from any angle, and for when it's done you could set the "ding" to Quack, Wild Eep, or Sosumi. Perhaps a cross-licensing deal with Williams-Sonoma is in the cards?