People do realize that Apple is about to take over the world?

I hope Apple doesn't try to take over the industry. I'd be a liar if I weren't smug about belonging to this elite club of enlightened computer users. If you stare into the void long enough, the void becomes you.

Sure a little bit more market share is nice, but if we get too much, well we're just asking for viruses.

I dont know about world conquest, but they are in a better position than ever to grow their market, they just need to be careful or they will be rigth back where they were in the mid 90s.

but really they aren't.
they are ready for some good market growth if things go well for them though.

If apple takes over the world, i really hope they still make good prodcuts i woudl hate to buy an apple product and what i do when i buy somethign like a dell.

California said:

Steve, you outlasted them all. Pixar, the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, OSX -- thanks for making our lives better.

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In the short story which is computing it looked for some years that the bad and soulless guys would take over, but Steve Jobs has - with his team and staff - planted a creative and aesthetic seed in the hearts and minds of the multitides.

Apple has made it more fun to compute.

Apple are definitely in a great place to take a lot more market share. And with Dell taking an absolute hammering at the moment (when your products are pictured on the front page of newspapers blowing up at conferences it's not good publicity), I can understand people saying this.

Product wise we have to see but the omens are good. But let's also hope the stock option fiasco doesn't derail the company in a business sense.

Slaughter Dell??? What are you talking about, Apple has gained a little bit of market share but they are no where close to Dell. The business world alone will keep Dell far ahead of Apple.

I dont like Dells as much as the next guy posting on here, but your statements are ridiculous.

/me Opens up a can of Kool-Aid and passes it around.

BlizzardBomb said:

Sure a little bit more market share is nice, but if we get too much, well we're just asking for viruses.

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This logic makes no sense. MacOSX is a massive target for hackers especially as osx users are percieved as being so smug about being secure.

Seriously, are there any viruses for Linux (another huge UNIX-based target)?

PlaceofDis said:

but really they aren't.
they are ready for some good market growth if things go well for them though.

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Exactly, don't underestimate the power of MS and how much power having Office (and Access etc) already installed in most large companies gives them.

Also Apple need to address hardware quality control issues right now.

BlizzardBomb said:

Sure a little bit more market share is nice, but if we get too much, well we're just asking for viruses.

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Everytime I hear the word virus, I picture a 120 pound nerd sitting in his mom's basement coding for hours with a little smile on his face. Its more or less his way of getting back at the world for being a social outcast, and not having any friends. I think if people get caught writing a virus they should be shot(or at least goto jail for life)....just my opinion.

bluetorch18 said:

Everytime I hear the word virus, I picture a 120 pound nerd sitting in his mom's basement coding for hours with a little smile on his face. Its more or less his way of getting back at the world for being a social outcast, and not having any friends. I think if people get caught writing a virus they should be shot(or at least goto jail for life)....just my opinion.

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Nah they should be given a programming job and do something useful. Direct that energy in a useful direction.

Apple really seem to be stepping up their advertising/marketing. It is much more aggressive. A few years ago at uni it seemed I was the only person on campus (and its a big uni!) with an iPod (3rd gen). People didn't really know what an iPod was. Then Christmas came. I got on the train in January and every bloody kid had a 4th gen iPod (they had just come out). I got off and walked through the city and all I saw was people with iPods. It was really odd. Like I was teleported to another land or transported in time.

Now there is advertising for Apple stuff everywhere. Every tom, dick and harry (I even see oldies on the train with Shuffles) has an iPod (even though most use 'em on PCs and probably don't appreciate why the iPod is so good. Its more of a fashion fad thing. Australia has a real fad culture. If something is 'in' everyone wants a piece of it).

Martin Place station is covered in advertising for iTunes and even the supermarkets sell iTunes cards.

And last night I saw for the first time ever a non-iPod Apple ad. It was the one with the PC guy and the young Apple guy about viruses.

I just worry that Apple is going to be bastardised because of its popularity. The bigger it becomes the more bastardised it becomes i.e. profit will become more desirable and they spent less on innovating and more on just on trying to ship units (a la Microsoft/Dell style).

I hope it doesn't happen but I guess you could argue that it already is with the phasing out of FW etc... But maybe Im just fear that my little utopia in Apple land is going to be invaded by a unruly mob of millions. No longer will we be able to claim the unique status of being a mac user. But I guess its a long way off.

inlimbo said:

I just worry that Apple is going to be bastardised because of its popularity. The bigger it becomes the more bastardised it becomes i.e. profit will become more desirable and they spent less on innovating and more on just on trying to ship units (a la Microsoft/Dell style).

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But Jobs has already recognized that as what nearly killed Apple in the past. He stated that same sentiment in an interview (that I would link, but I am too lazy to look it up). He basically said that what killed Apple in the 90's was that that they turned the company over to the sales guys. I don't think he will let the same thing happen again.

emotion said:

This logic makes no sense. MacOSX is a massive target for hackers especially as osx users are percieved as being so smug about being secure.

Seriously, are there any viruses for Linux (another huge UNIX-based target)?

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How does it not make sense? Windows is targeted because a vast majority of users use it so they stand a bigger chance of infecting a lot of computers. And the threat is real, remember the "Leopard Picture" virus?

BlizzardBomb said:

How does it not make sense? Windows is targeted because a vast majority of users use it so they stand a bigger chance of infecting a lot of computers. And the threat is real, remember the "Leopard Picture" virus?

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It does not make sense because if Macs have 2% markeshare, by your logic they should have 2% of the viruses.

That was a trojan. Viruses and trojans are different in that I could make an Applescript "sudo rm -rf /" and rename it .JPG and tell you to open it. Viruses are different in that you don't have to tell them to open, they open automatically - and spread automatically. There is basically no way to stop trojans without removing all ADMIN accounts from all computers and having to call up Apple everytime you run a program.

Macs have 0 viruses.

Not the whole world, but maybe 5-10% of it before serious resistance is felt.

kvanwagoner said:

Slaughter Dell??? What are you talking about, Apple has gained a little bit of market share but they are no where close to Dell. The business world alone will keep Dell far ahead of Apple.

I dont like Dells as much as the next guy posting on here, but your statements are ridiculous.

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Dell will collapse upon itself sooner or later. All those $500 Dell PCs are heavily subsidised by their models higher up the range. If the MacPro, iMac and MacBooks take the high profit consumer sales off Dell whilst HP do the same with the business customers as it looks like they're managing to do, Dell will start running at a loss and look to be going the same way as Gateway.

And once that happens, their customers will run for other suppliers. They'll be stuck in a downward spiral with nothing to fall back on.

The proper term for the $500 Dell is loss leader ... and now that Dell is getting away from mail-in rebates to sure thing rebates, it is a little uglier.

But when you get to the checkout and add all the warranties, upgrades, and other little things they snag you with when they sell you the profitable items. They basically turn a loss into a decent profit on your sale.

It is those idiots that walk in and buy nothing but the $500 PC that hurt Dell, but they are few and far between.

dynamicv said:

Dell will collapse upon itself sooner or later. All those $500 Dell PCs are heavily subsidised by their models higher up the range. If the MacPro, iMac and MacBooks take the high profit consumer sales off Dell whilst HP do the same with the business customers as it looks like they're managing to do, Dell will start running at a loss and look to be going the same way as Gateway.

And once that happens, their customers will run for other suppliers. They'll be stuck in a downward spiral with nothing to fall back on.

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Aren't Dell already struggling?

The problem for them is, in addition to the above, that people don't really see the need to upgrade as computers for general use are powerful enough. The big advantage Apple has is that they offer a new user experience to PC users which some people are jumping at based on their iPod experience.

Apple just have to be careful to keep their hardware quality control under control at this stage. They are already getting a reputation, as well all know (whether that's justified is another thing of course).

Dell and Apple aren't really comparable companies. Dell makes generic PCs and resells Windows. They re-badge printers and monitors. Their "secret to success" over the years, and the reason they've survived in such a tough market, is efficiency. They don't development significant new products, and whenever they've tried, they've failed pretty miserably (Dell Jukebox). Apple is much more of a consumer products company, better compared to Sony than Dell.

I am not so sure Apple is about to take over the world. The last couple of years boom is much due to the success of the iPod. (got money to do R&D)
In order to keep growing, they need to come up with a new "iPod". It is not like all other manufacturers sit idle.

Dumb Ass Analogy

Okay so this it totally dumb but, over here in the UK our largest supermarket chain is called Tesco. For every £7 spent on the UK High Street, £1 of it goes to Tesco - meaning they're pretty big.

But we also have a well established brand called Marks & Spencer who sell really tasty food at premium prices.

People will always go to Tesco for their groceries, and Marks & Spencer will never touch them. But every now and then you go to M&S to get something tasty and get a different user experience.

People will never buy all their groceries in M&S.

Apple will never swallow the PC market... EVER.

But that doesn't matter. None of us would want them to. The reality is, Apple have to put so much time and effort into getting within spitting distance of Dell and Microsoft that the result of the labors is much better products. We don't want Apple to reach a point where it doesn't matter what they produce because they know we'll buy it anyway.

It is better that Apple needs to compete really hard - it means we benefit. I don't know about the rest of you guys but I hope Dell and Microsoft continue to do as well as ever. I hope the masses buy their rubbish PCs and load them up with Vista. PC users are so damn ignorant that they dont care that Vista is a total rip off of Mac OS. Jeez most PC users dont even understand that there is an alternative... They think Internet Explorer IS the World Wide Web.

it's strange the cult of personality surrounding steve jobs is around here along with the "can't do no wrong" mentality. reminds me of sony back in the day (except for the cult personality surrounding the ceo).