Apparently this is what they call"productivity' these days so no wonder you get such a vast of "interesting" replies on obvious topics
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Apple Slips to Fourth in Worldwide PC Sales With iPad Included
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Apparently this is what they call"productivity' these days so no wonder you get such a vast of "interesting" replies on obvious topics
The way I interpreted his comments was exactly the opposite -- he is specifically mentioning the fact that there are "PC" as in IBM PC ("capital PC"), but there are also "personal computers", such as your examples above (his "lower case pc"). I think we're all saying the same thing, just phrasing it differently.
Oh i completely understand what you mean, thanks for the further clarification.
Lets not forget that we are dealing with a more "computer" savvy generation. Your examples of 80yr olds and infants is generally correct, but when those infants get to school, they will be using desktops(at school.) I think the barrier that existed with PC emergence in the late 80's is still prevalent today, not with the youger crowd anyway.
I think it will get to the point where people will have multiple devices in their homes. Just like people have laptops, desktops, and tablets(like myself) They will each have a place, but I just dont think tablets will run desktops and laptops out of peoples homes and time in the next 10-15 years.
Very true.
Compare what you did on a personal computer in 1995 vs. today. I would say web-based activity is a very very high percentage of what people use a personal computer...since even 2005. Online banking, email, uploading/sharing photos, Youtube, chat, skype, research, maps & directions, etc.
It doesn't make a difference if you use a Mac or Dell or a Linux box...as long as there is a browser on the system, you can do all your work.
Sure, there is the occasional thick client (iTunes, MS Office, Photoshop) but those are ALL available on the Mac and PC environments.
Now tablets come along. They failed so many times before because of all the new operating systems they had and thick client re-compiles they had to do. No more. 90% of the stuff consumers are doing is web...so just slap Firefox on the thing and you're golden. Then for the 10% of stuff that isn't web-based, have the OS be attractive to app writers....and those 3 example apps above are being ported to the tablets.
Tablets are definitely the wave of the future of personal computing...but I will state that the desktop will be around for quite some time for the folks (like me) who although do a lot of web stuff, have a lot of thick client apps and/or need (non-need) to use a desktop vs. a tablet.
I'm trying to find more on it but as far as i've read somewhere apple's data is always on units shipped including those that were used as warranty replacements (pretty much they count one as two in this case) for example. Waaay stretched in my opinion.
I just think Apple is making a mistake by not making some low end machines.
I know many here go OMG SHOCK HORROR about anything not made from Aluminium and Unicorn Horn Dust, but in reality, it would pay them, long term to make some nice looking plastic low end machines.
You can make plastic and metal trim things still have a nice finish.
Families walk into stores in the UK, I'm not sure about the US and look at the vast, and I mean VAST array of nice, in their mind, looking PC Laptops, perhaps to buy one for the wife, or one for the kids at school. They may walk past the small Apple table, see the near £1000 price tag, and think, yeah, right, like we're going to get one of those. I could get two good spec'd windows Laptops for that price.
I know people here will disagree as many are in a different wage bracket to "normal consumers" but I can tell you, most people are not going to throw down a grand for a computer for the kids to take to school.
As the only REAL difference between a PC and a Mac these days is the OS it's running, there is no reason Apple could not make a laptop directly at the price point of a medium to low end Windows laptop and then, people may buy them, and perhaps get used to OS X and in years to come go for an iMac.
I know many here go OMG SHOCK HORROR about anything not made from Aluminium and Unicorn Horn Dust, but in reality, it would pay them, long term to make some nice looking plastic low end machines.
You can make plastic and metal trim things still have a nice finish.
Families walk into stores in the UK, I'm not sure about the US and look at the vast, and I mean VAST array of nice, in their mind, looking PC Laptops, perhaps to buy one for the wife, or one for the kids at school. They may walk past the small Apple table, see the near £1000 price tag, and think, yeah, right, like we're going to get one of those. I could get two good spec'd windows Laptops for that price.
I know people here will disagree as many are in a different wage bracket to "normal consumers" but I can tell you, most people are not going to throw down a grand for a computer for the kids to take to school.
As the only REAL difference between a PC and a Mac these days is the OS it's running, there is no reason Apple could not make a laptop directly at the price point of a medium to low end Windows laptop and then, people may buy them, and perhaps get used to OS X and in years to come go for an iMac.
Thank you for pointing this out to me. Just know that I am right now working on a C7000 chassis, specifically on a BL870c Blade, even more specifically on a Itanium version VM running on said blade.
I think I know about servers.
This doesn't change the fact of what I said : Servers aren't pcs (as in personal computers) and I doubt they are included in this chart. So why are you even bringing them up ?When you head to the lower end of the market in terms of price, the margins tend to get slimmer, when looking at Apple's pricing and product designs it suggests its not how they operate.
Piggie, I think Apple is satisfied with their Mac market trend (climbing) and is viewing phones and tablets as the future (and it's where they make the vast majority of their corporate profits now). And when a family in the UK walks into a store and sees the tablet displays, they will find that the best tablet (iPad) is also the tablet that costs no more than the rivals.
Since within ten years the average English family will care more about tablets than about desktop PCs or laptops, Apple is on this trend at the right time. Ten years from now no one will care that Apple only makes high-end desktops and laptops.
Since within ten years the average English family will care more about tablets than about desktop PCs or laptops, Apple is on this trend at the right time. Ten years from now no one will care that Apple only makes high-end desktops and laptops.
Apple sold around 14.5 million Macs last year (2.94m Q2, 3.47m Q3, 3.89m Q4, 4.13m Q1). The Global sales for computers was almost 351 million.
I've done some research and still make it 4.1%.
I am one of the many people carrying them, but, sales numbers of those versus the iPod Touch, and iPhone are telling us that the fad is over.
I don't want them to stop selling classic iPods, however I am not blind to the fact that I am a member of a dying breed of classic iPod users.
Uhm, I still use an iPod. It carries all my music, usable contacts and calendar now and some games. And a touch interface. You are saying that my iPod Touch is not an Ipod. Guess we need to call it iTouch after all.
I think it is stretching it to call the iPod a fad. One of the defining aspects of a fad is its temporary nature. 8-10 years temporary? Everything is temporary.
At the moment yes, I agree with you fully.
However, I'm not convinced that this will stay this way long term.
Once Asus, Acer etc etc really nail the tablet form factor, and major size component plants kicking out parts, I don't see any reason why Tablets won't drop to low end, or sub low end laptops.
If I can walk into a superstore down the road and buy a full laptop (not netbook) running Windows with a HDD etc etc, for £299. I don't believe there is any reason why a Tablet, given time will not drop to this or probably lower price points. After all, there is much less in a tablet.
I'm not saying we will, but we could be in a position at the end of this decade when Apple have the nice, but expensive tablets, and again, there are rows of cheaper ones that do the same job made by others.
£400 to £500 is still a heck of a lot of money to many. I am aware Americans have more disposable income, so it's said, than UK customers, so perhaps peoples perceptions of expensive is a little different over there.
You're completely wrong, Piggie. Anyone who uses Mac hardware knows that. A Macbook Pro is a completely different animal than a piece of crap made by Dell that sells for half the price. Apple doesn't make junk, and never will. I'm glad. I don't care that Joe Cheapo wants the lowest priced garbage he can find, and doesn't care that its hard drive will fail in a year, that its motherboard will fry, it's underpowered, or that his experience will suck and he won't know the difference. Those of us who buy Macs and choose to spend more for a better made machine appreciate the difference. You get what you pay for - remember that.
And people ARE buying them. In droves.
It's too expensive. as a business, why buy an imac when I could but a dell or hp for a fraction of the price to do the same job?
Right, because in order for it to be "work" it has to involve 3D rendering or working on the (crappy) movie Avatar.
The rest of the 300 million people in the USA who don't do 3D rendering or making digital movie effects - we all just surf the web and play games.
Oh, and by the way, for 30 years now - there have been lots of "real PCs" which were not used for 3D rendering or making movies. In fact, until the recent advances in parallel processing, most of that 3D work and rendering was done on servers and workstations that were specifically designed for the task and cost tens of thousands of dollars each (not including software). So your "real PCs" up until maybe the last 5 or 10 years couldn't even do as much as current iPads do now - let alone what you are calling "real work".
My current iPhone has more processing power, more memory and "disk" space, and better bandwidth than my Office computers from 1995 to 2005.
You might need a massive computer for your work, but I know a LOT of industries that are moving to iPads because they better meet the needs of the user. The medical industry, and the logistics industry are moving that way. The auto sales industry is moving that way. Whether it is iOS or not is yet to be seen, but having a small inexpensive portable computer system with a 10 hour battery that can do 95% of the workload in a business is very attractive. I know realtors and home contractors who have become excited about the iPad as well. Even auto mechanics are using iPads in their business.
It doesn't do the same job. Not even close. If all you need to do is surf the web or check your email, you can get away with cheap PCs. If you want to do anything that requires some power - big difference. Intelligent people doing real work buy Macs, or PCs spec'ed out similarly (which costs about the same).
I see no reason why Apple won't have a low cost tablet when competitors drop their prices. They are already very aggressive on pricing, and I think we see in the iPod market their approach to pricing these sorts of devices: You can step up from $49 (in the U.S.) all the way to an iPod touch. Hard to beat Apple on pricing, and this is ten years after the iPod was introduced.
So if Acer or whoever wants to drop the tablet price from $499 to $399 or eventually $299, Apple will be right there with them. After all, Apple gets the best component prices now, so how can anyone undercut them?
Unless you mean the piece-of-junk plastic tablet ripoffs that can sell for $199 or something. Apple won't make junk versions, and those will win on price. But anyone who buys those deserves the same headaches as people who buy stripped-down Dell boxes.
So if Acer or whoever wants to drop the tablet price from $499 to $399 or eventually $299, Apple will be right there with them. After all, Apple gets the best component prices now, so how can anyone undercut them?
Unless you mean the piece-of-junk plastic tablet ripoffs that can sell for $199 or something. Apple won't make junk versions, and those will win on price. But anyone who buys those deserves the same headaches as people who buy stripped-down Dell boxes.
If you and your entire office are sitting laughing at MacRumors comment posts then you are charging your customers WAY too much money.
My child's school is part of the USA "laptop schools" program and every child from 5th grade through graduation is required to have a laptop. The only three they are allowed to choose from (currently) are PCs and cost $1099, $1649, and $2029.
I looked at the specs and all three models are similarly priced as equivalent Mac laptops (actually the $1099 PC laptop is less well equipped than the similar Mac laptop).
We are not allowed to buy them Macs. (It is something that angers me quite a bit, that they require us to buy the equipment but won't let us buy what we want - in my opinion if they want specific equipment, they should buy it - since I am paying the $$$ I should be able to buy what system I want as long as it meets certain requirements).
Precisely.
Besides, just how much further below $600 does a computer have to be before it satisfies Joe Cheapo's definition of "low end"? My first Apple was a mini and cost less (and ran four times longer) than every single POS Dell, Compaq, Packard Bell, and Acer home-grown bargain bin Door stop I tried to buy or build on the cheap. I can't speak to it's ultimate demise, because I sold it -fully functional and every bit as capable- to another eager owner four years after I first absorbed the horrendous, unjust, impoverishing $500 sticker price.
I still use a classic style iPod too, I even said that in the post you quoted.
Apple may market the iPod touch as an "iPod", but in all reality it is just an advanced PDA that has a really good music player inside it. More of an iPod by Label, than it is by past definition.
I don't think it is. There are many past examples of fads that lasted an entire decade, even longer.
Multifunction devices (PDAs & Phones) existed during the peak of iPod popularity, however they were not sought after by the masses in the way the iPod was. Even now Apple still offers a clickwheel iPod alongside the Touch / iPhone. Because of that, you can't exactly say it has been replaced, when it is still offered (along with other smaller iPod music player offerings).
People have been migrating away from the dedicated iPod MP3 player, since the introduction of the iPhone, and Android devices. Many of us still buy and use classic iPod music players, but it is becoming more of an enthusiast / niche market than it is mainstream.
You may not want to call it a Fad even though it meets many of the criteria, which is fine. I am only one person with one opinion.
Like it or not, the iPod fad (or era) is drawing to a close, it is now the turn of the iPhone / Touch (or Android) and iPad (or Tablet).
Actually, I'm note sure about the US, But I would fully agree with stopping Schools etc from buying Mac's for use in education.
The point of a school is to teach/educate/prepare children/students for the skills they are going to need when they leave and enter into the real world, the marketplace for jobs.
Like it or not, PC's are vastly more in use in typical businesses these days.
You do now want a vast amount of people leaving school to start their new jobs, being confronted by PC's and say, oh, we're never used PC's we only used Macs at college.
That's just a non starter of an idea. And getting businesses to dump all their PC's and buy Mac's overnight is just not going to happen. Like it or not.
I also take issue with those who seem to think Anything non Apple is worthless junk, that's just silly talk that belongs in the playground.
I also believe Apple could make a low cost (lost cost for Apple) Plastic cased laptop, perhaps trim the specs down a little and make is much more affordable to a typical family. I don't know why people cannot grasp that many here are not the typical consumer who is struggling to pay bills, feed the family, run the car etc etc.
It's very insulting to brand such a person, who is working hard to bring up a family "Joe Cheapo"