Apple wants to remove boxed software from their stores

Of course Apple wants to get rid of boxed software in their stores. That’s not surprising and seems like a natural progression for them considering how Apple has moved even their own core suite of apps to the Mac App Store.

Some people seem to be complaining that this is a bad move for people who are not on broadband, or who may be on very slow broadband. Okay, fair enough. But how many people fit into that category? Especially Apple users.

I think this is also a not so subtle hint that points to the removal of optical drives in future Macs. This has been discussed before, and I have written about this before. Considering the fact that we got a MacBook Air last year with SSD as the only storage option and no optical drive, this marked a very bold move for Apple. Remember, Apple shipped the OS X and software restore on a tiny USB key. I expect that when 10.7 is released later this year, we’ll see it go on sale and ship only in USB key formfactor.

Not only is this going to be far more efficient for their supply chain as far as reducing costs on materials needed, but this also will be a huge win for Apple’s energy efficient and green packaging goals. There isn’t any other hardware company out there that is beating Apple in terms of going green, and this is just another thing that will allow them to add yet another EPEAT point.