Jobs left Apple in great shape, no doubt, but to claim that what Cook has done, and is doing, is easy is just infantile!
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Apple Maintains Mac Sales Momentum Amid Overall Worldwide PC Market Decline
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Jobs left Apple in great shape, no doubt, but to claim that what Cook has done, and is doing, is easy is just infantile!
Well...
At least I got to start off my morning with a laugh! =D
The actual FACT is that PCs are much shorter lifespan & more disposable than macs.... even taking into account a few minor upgrades to limp it along.
I'll use my own self for example. I have a late 2009 iMac that I got in Jan of 2010; it still runs better than any Windows machine I've used over the last six years & probably has at LEAST another four years in it!! It shipped with Snow Lepoard & has ran that, Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, & El Capitan. This is the equivalent of a stock PC with NO upgrades, that shipped with Vista in 2010, got upgraded to Windows 7, Windows 8, then Windows 10, still running like a champ & having YEARS left in it. That's not reality man...
And the little "oh, but you can upgrade soooo easily" argument doesn't really hold weight. RAM is the only real spec that upgrading makes a valid difference. Processor would be... but in my many years of PC experience, I've learned that you can almost NEVER upgrade your processor to make a real difference. By the time your PC has gotten soooo slow that you want a proc upgrade, the socket architecture for CPU has changed at least twice & the best you can do is go from a slow old outdated CPU, to a slightly faster old outdated CPU. None of the processors put out in the last few years are going to be compatible with your setup.
*ahem*
2010, Apple 27%... Android 22%. ;0)
Lol, I'm picking nits... I get your point! And that was the ONLY year that was true.
LMFAO! Okay then... I can wrap my head around using a free virus and malware app but to say one can, "With basic computer knowledge or half an hour on you tube anyone could find out how to maintain and fix their computer if there are ever any issues," is woefully untrue! I'm sorry but have you ever tried to help a good friend that uses a Windows computer delouse it after it has become infected? I say good friend because it's way to complicated and time consuming to do it for just anyone! One friend of mines computer was so infected I had to extract as much data as I could, reformat his hard drive, and reload Windows and his programs. Before I reloaded his data, I ran it through a virus and malware program and found more viruses and malware I had to squash! This was a multi day excursion into Windows hell. If it were anyone else, I would of told them to take their computer to someone else who would charge them at least $100 if not more to fix and restore there computer and data!
You have to give Apple credit, they are building computers that people want. All the other makers have a - on their growth numbers Apple doesn't. Even though people complain (as I do sometimes) about Macs being over priced, I think it was and continues to be smart of them to not race to the bottom price wise. Just look at what that did to Dell.
Overall, I'm really happy with my iMac and I'm part of that statistic - I'm doing my part
Overall, I'm really happy with my iMac and I'm part of that statistic - I'm doing my part
What is that supposed to mean?
My point was that the art of self-building PCs is rare nowadays and that many of the big box stores (e.g. Saturn, Media Markt) and also more specialised computer stores do not bother to look anymore and just ship it to a center for repair or replace the machine altogether.
I don't see how your individual experience changes a trend in the market. I didn't say self building doesn't occur.
The iOS market is not "tiny" by any means. 100's of millions of users. And, every statistic and survey out there shows, iOS users are more likely to buy an App that an Android user and iOS tends to be a more profitable platform. Lastly, iOS has the best development tools out there. From what I've heard Swift is really good and easy. Lots of reasons developers go to iOS first.
Anyway... great to see Macs still gaining ground... 2016 should have more significant updates coming, so it should be an even better 2016.
Definitely, the days of hobbyists is sadly coming to a close. I used to do this myself, but now I find more peace of mind in just buying a Mac and not dealing with finding motherboards, GPUs, ram, drives, cases, power supplies. That can be find once in a while, but after a period of time, it gets old.
Transition that to most people who don't want to mess with that, as they're way to busy working, raising kids or what not and you can see why this is now a rarity.
I was actually talking about worldwide. Symbian was the dominant platform for a long time. I don't believe iOS ever had more than 21-22% worldwide.
Android eventually overtook Symbian... but they were both ahead of iOS.
But yeah... iOS has certain specific markets where it is the big cheese.
No worries... this helps my point: a platform with less than 20% is still pretty darn popular for developers!
Yes, in addition the fact that it is rarer now, makes it more difficult to get support on the machines if there are incompatibility issues. I assembled most of my PCs in the 90s. Started buying off the shelf in the 00s, transitioned to laptops, was disgusted by Vista, and then transitioned to Mac. This journey is quite common now.
Ugh.... I didn't really mean "tiny"
My point was... isn't it cool that the platform in a DISTANT 2nd place is actually VERY popular for developers? You don't NEED to be in first place.
iOS with less than 20% is still extremely attractive. Even the Mac with less than 10% is too.
And it's for the exact reasons you mention: Apple users aren't afraid to spend money! Developers love the development tools! Everything is awesome!
The only reason I replied to comment #40 is because it specifically talked about userbase and Windows.
I was countering it by saying you DON'T have to have the most users, the most market share, etc.
I'm on your side!
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That's what I found, with my custom built PC. Nothing major occurred but I had some minor nagging odd things with sleep/hibernation. I really had no one to turn too, other then various forums, none of which could help me.
Consumers, the regular people who don't eat/sleep/dream about computers do not want this, and I think the figures on the first post show that.
Yes, and younger generations growing up are often not even aware of the possibility of doing it. I bet the majority of people still building PCs is in the late thirties and above. I'm also willing to bet that the majority of students graduating from an IT oriented university have never seen the inside of a PC let alone know what the components are.
But Macrumours readers told me that the new Macs suck and no one would want them.
Listen people who own a tap still buy bottled water - go figure.
It is odd that Apple can't be spritely with their updating of CPUs in their computer line. Sure, iMacs and MBPs are kept fairly fresh, but the poor mini and Pro are left adrift when opportunity is available for improvement.
Cook should institute a once-a-year update (even if minor) for every Mac.
I think you mean dated or lagging. There is no way a person with knowledge of the English language could use "obsolete" in that way. You can buy any Mac and use it right there.... that's not obsolete.
Cook should institute a once-a-year update (even if minor) for every Mac.
WOWZERS! You need a dictionary.
I think you mean dated or lagging. There is no way a person with knowledge of the English language could use "obsolete" in that way. You can buy any Mac and use it right there.... that's not obsolete.
Because it's all plug n play now... A person doesn't need to reinvent the wheel anymore because it is, for the most part, ready to go out of the box!
Developers don't look at market share. Developers look where there's market for their apps.
iOS has a huge market potential while most Android market share comes from cheap smartphones which are used almost exclusively as dumb phones. No market opportunities there.
Honest question: isn't that the reason why companies can do it now quickly and cheaply and it doesn't make any sense to do it ourselves anymore? And in addition: are the differences in performance between different components nowadays so small that there is little gain in really building a custom built set, as it would not be much more powerful than a BTO top off the line prefab rig?
Obsolete? You want to talk about obsolete. Microsoft themselves has pretty much pinned their future on the Surface line to boost Windows viability!
I KNOW!!!!
Read my comment again... particularly the quote I replied to.
I was replying to a previous comment that was talking about Windows and "user base matters" in reference to how some software and games get written for Windows and not OSX.
I was saying that the OPPOSITE is true in iOS... that iOS has the developers' attention while NOT being the dominant platform.
Geez... should I just delete my earlier comment since everyone it taking it the wrong way?
I remember when one of the objections that came up about the Mac was, "You can't customize it!" Apples answer was the G series of Macs and eventually the Mac Pro. With advent of the iMac, which harken back to the original Macintosh, customization became less important. Case in point look at where the Mac Pro is now in relation to the rest of the Mac line up. It truly is a niche product!
It was quite clear, but those that agree with you are probably less inclined to post that than those that disagree.
David Gewirtz has a decent article about the iMac breaking his 18 month PC upgrade cycle for desktops.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-the-imac-broke-my-18-month-pc-upgrade-cycle/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-the-imac-broke-my-18-month-pc-upgrade-cycle/
But Macrumours readers told me that the new Macs suck and no one would want them.
But Mac fanboys told me Macs account for 14% of the home PC market, not a lousy 7% which is just as low as it's numbers have EVER been. In other words, Macs are going NOWHERE. Unless Apple can get Macs back into the 18-20% range (closer to iPhone market share), it will never have the same software selection as Windows (and I don't like Windows but a fact is a fact). As spyware awful as Windows 10 is, it caught up with OS X's TOTAL market share in less than two months. Macs aren't selling enough to do squat. Other than software availability, though, I like i that way. It means less chance of malware and the like.
If Apple actually WANTED to gain market share, they wouldn't keep offering purposely crippled Mac Minis (for both GPU and CPU) and GPU crippled iMacs and the would update their one and only true desktop once in a blue moon (rather than every 4 years). Apple isn't even SERIOUS about increasing desktop share. They're a fracking JOKE artificially limiting it on purpose. IMO, Tim Cook and Jony Ive should both be FIRED. More sales mean more market share mean more profits in the long run for SERVICES and Apple needs to offer more services because that iPhone share isn't going to last forever. Sooner or later they will have a bad enough offering that their 20% share will drop and so will software, etc. the lower it goes. Apple has never understood the importance of market share. Look at Microsoft. They have Linux type market share of the phone industry. NO ONE CARES about making mobile Apps for Microsoft as a result the same way few commercial companies give two hoots about desktop Linux. 1-3% is a waste of time. Apple is sitting at 7% of new PC sales. That's not NEARLY good enough. We want more software to appear, not less.