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Apple's Consumer Marketshare Much Higher?
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I won't be out of a job then. I just wish users knew a little more.
You've been around since before Intel.
top 20% of laptops - business = macbook pro + "extreme gaming" laptops
You are really generalizing here. You are leaving out most decent 17" laptops that aren't stripped down to hell. If you configure a regular Dell, Sony, Acer, etc 17" unit (not gaming models) with upper middle specs you can easily get to the macbook pro prices... Even 15" laptops with great specs get up there too...
And one day, as we commute to work in our hovercars, we'll start to wonder why we keep putting up with Windows at work, when everyone's using Macs at home and having so many fewer problems
Hovercars...how very un "PC".
One of my customers is a huge MS fan and has just laughed over the past few years at anything Apple. His stance has always been, in the business world MS is where its at, becuase for a large company standardization is what makes IT life easy.
Since Vista has come out and the iPhone, believe that or not, he has actually started to change his tune. He's not switching out his system, but his change in attitude speaks volumes. Time will tell.
My company originally started with Mac only deployments. 18 years ago and the only solid GUI was a Mac. Abourt 7 years ago we stopped supporting Mac platforms as our customers were all standardizing in MS and OSX was not in the cards for us. See my post above.
Our owners have always been Mac fans and a good portion of our development staff still code on Macs. Ironic, eh?
Anyway, upward market share is key for us as it means we'll need to eventually support the Mac OSX platform. And I can't wait becuase our stuff will look soooo much better on OSX.
College Sales result in Post-College Sales, results in Businesses working with the best who also have a background in OS X.
The more the future workforce is exposed to OS X and even Linux the more rapidly Windows market share will erode.
The more the future workforce is exposed to OS X and even Linux the more rapidly Windows market share will erode.
I think it's far higher at my community college. Also, many kids I know who have a Dell now want an Apple for later.
Now don't get me wrong. I would like a new MB or MBP today. They are so nice. However, my PowerBook does what I need it to do so I really can't justify the cost of upgrading at this point.
That, I've discovered, is the downside of a Mac. Unless you have money to spend at will, upgrading your Mac is a much longer process vs PC because the old ones just keep going. I could never fully justify selling my 1Ghz Powerbook because it was so stable and reliable and quick enough that I never did it. Until last week. I'm starting to dive into Aperture a lot on my work Macbook and I need something that can run that. So.... hopefully first of November I'll get a new iMac with Leopard. Bring it on!
Yes we'll all be catching Hover Short Buses.Hovercars...how very un "PC".
My company originally started with Mac only deployments. 18 years ago and the only solid GUI was a Mac. Abourt 7 years ago we stopped supporting Mac platforms as our customers were all standardizing in MS and OSX was not in the cards for us. See my post above.
Our owners have always been Mac fans and a good portion of our development staff still code on Macs. Ironic, eh?
Anyway, upward market share is key for us as it means we'll need to eventually support the Mac OSX platform. And I can't wait becuase our stuff will look soooo much better on OSX.
Sounds Like Apple really need to open the Mystic Yellow Box for you Guys.
At my university ALMOST every person that doesn't have a Mac doesn't simply because they can't afford one, but they almost all want one, and end up getting one later after they save up. In the mean time they make excuses as to why they have a cheap PC and are embarrassed by them.
Oh ya.... and once they get their first Mac they ALL say they will NEVER switch back to PCs
Oh ya.... and once they get their first Mac they ALL say they will NEVER switch back to PCs
That's not really true. A lot of it boils down to Apples support. Do they provide on-site support? What if my company wants to standardize on one particular model, what happens when Apple updates their computer-lineup? Can we still get that older model we standardized on? What if we didn't want our user-machines to have DVD-burners, could Apple modify their machines accordingly?
The difference between PC's and Macs as far as corporate IT is concerned is that with PC's they IT-department can pick and choose the hardware to suit their needs. With Macs they need to modify their needs to fit the hardware, due to the fact that Apple has a lot narrower product-lineup than PC-manufacturers do.
As to the "shortsighted one-size fits all"-philosophy... It simply makes sure to standardize. Ideally there would be just one model of computer provided to the users. Having more than one makes things more complex. Having different OS'es mixed in to it would make things A LOT more comples.
It's nice to think that "I want to provide my users a choice!". But in reality that road leads to madness. Trust me, I have been down that road. For example: We support four different types of laptops (from one manufacturer). Two of those use one type power-adapter, while the other two use different type. So we need separate power-adapters in stock for every type. two of the machines has 15" screens, two have 12" screens, so we need two diferent sizes of privacy-screens. Batteries are different in every model, so we need four different kind of batteries in stock. If we had Macs as well, things would be different in software-side as well. The systems that we have designed for Windows in mind suddenly would not work or would require extensive modifications.
The list goes on.
At my university ALMOST every person that doesn't have a Mac doesn't simply because they can't afford one, but they almost all want one, and end up getting one later after they save up. In the mean time they make excuses as to why they have a cheap PC and are embarrassed by them.
Oh ya.... and once they get their first Mac they ALL say they will NEVER switch back to PCs
I think it's got a lot to do with what people perceive as 'cool'. Mac laptops look great, so naturally kids/young people at university want them.
At friend worked at a UK retailer a while back and they were selling around 35% Mac to HP, Sony and other Windows products. He said that post-Intel sales certainly shot up as people didn't have to worry so much about not being Windows compatible.
If you strip out the zillions of PCs sold to corporations as little more than terminals, Mac marketshare is now probably pretty hot.
If you strip out the zillions of PCs sold to corporations as little more than terminals, Mac marketshare is now probably pretty hot.
This is fascinating -ie the Apple brand becoming a cultural icon.It reminds me so much of a lot of the guys who ride the Harley look a likes because they cannot afford a Harley itself...I had no idea the brand was now so strong.
As for Macs on campuses,here my sister in law is a law lecturer.A few years ago there was a wholesale removal all of the unis Macs,bar hers {because she would not give it up} Thing is just recently I hear the university is now swimming in Macs once more.
The only thing which makes me a bit nervous about the rise of the marketshare is,how long is it going to be before we get malware etc etc.
Also I was talking to my ISP the other day and a tech is telling me to check my system for key loggers...I didnt get into it with him..
As for Macs on campuses,here my sister in law is a law lecturer.A few years ago there was a wholesale removal all of the unis Macs,bar hers {because she would not give it up} Thing is just recently I hear the university is now swimming in Macs once more.
The only thing which makes me a bit nervous about the rise of the marketshare is,how long is it going to be before we get malware etc etc.
Also I was talking to my ISP the other day and a tech is telling me to check my system for key loggers
...I didnt get into it with him..
See, in the UK these numbers are naturally lower.
I was speaking to an IT technician guy on the first day, and I just remember him saying that 'The only people here who use Macs are you, me, the teachers, and the Americans'
And in all fairness, if I see somebody in the cafe with a Mac, usually they're american.
Although out of my 8 flatmates (that I regularly see) 3 of us use Macs, one of which has only had it about a week
I was speaking to an IT technician guy on the first day, and I just remember him saying that 'The only people here who use Macs are you, me, the teachers, and the Americans'
And in all fairness, if I see somebody in the cafe with a Mac, usually they're american.
Although out of my 8 flatmates (that I regularly see) 3 of us use Macs, one of which has only had it about a week
Good news
Higher market share for any competition to windows is good news.
But when will they start to do more outside the US to be more successful internationaly?
I live in Germany and Apple as a computer maker is virtually non existent here. There is almost no advertising for Apple (and if there is advertising, it is just for iPod). There is no Apple store in Germany, only a few specialized retailers like Gravis in major cities. There are a lot of computer shops here and department stores also sell computers, but almost never Mac. Even at schools or universities you will only find Macs if the institution is related to arts, media or design. I'm sure a lot of people here don't even know that other platforms but windows exist. Three years(?) or so ago I was at a trade show with Mac products in Cologne and Apple wasn't even there!
But why? With a population of 82 Mio. Germany isn't as big as the US, but surely not an unimportant market. Also it is not a "poor" country. Most people here can afford Macs (typical laptops sold here are not or not much cheaper than a MacBook) and of course a lot of people are just "f****d up" with Windows.
I work as a developer in a games company. I'd really like to convince my Boss that a Mac port would be good. But as long as Apple doesn't do more to become visible my chances will be bad.
(Out game is 3D, but targeted at casual gamers and even the GMA chips can handle it fine. So we wouldn't have problems with Mac specs).
Why don't they do a bit more?
Christian
Higher market share for any competition to windows is good news.
But when will they start to do more outside the US to be more successful internationaly?
I live in Germany and Apple as a computer maker is virtually non existent here. There is almost no advertising for Apple (and if there is advertising, it is just for iPod). There is no Apple store in Germany, only a few specialized retailers like Gravis in major cities. There are a lot of computer shops here and department stores also sell computers, but almost never Mac. Even at schools or universities you will only find Macs if the institution is related to arts, media or design. I'm sure a lot of people here don't even know that other platforms but windows exist. Three years(?) or so ago I was at a trade show with Mac products in Cologne and Apple wasn't even there!
But why? With a population of 82 Mio. Germany isn't as big as the US, but surely not an unimportant market. Also it is not a "poor" country. Most people here can afford Macs (typical laptops sold here are not or not much cheaper than a MacBook) and of course a lot of people are just "f****d up" with Windows.
I work as a developer in a games company. I'd really like to convince my Boss that a Mac port would be good. But as long as Apple doesn't do more to become visible my chances will be bad.
(Out game is 3D, but targeted at casual gamers and even the GMA chips can handle it fine. So we wouldn't have problems with Mac specs).
Why don't they do a bit more?
Christian
Here about 1000km up north,in scandinavia,the situation is very different.
In universities apple is booming,especially in the media schools,where it is de-facto computer.
Apple has really reached the younger generation.
Now even the bigger computer/electronic retailers have the growing
stand or even department.I saw a funny sight last saturday in the biggest computer retailer shop around here.
In the 400m2 PC department there was one person fondling the computers. One. And he smelled of genuine nerd. A bit like linux or ubuntu.
In the 25m2 Apple department there was 22 persons crammed. 22.
Half of them women. No smell of sweat in that booth. Only slight scent of perfume.
People can have their opinions about the apples business modell (i do...) but it seems to be working quite nicely.
Apple's really starting to pick up in France as well. I'm seeing more and more on the metro, for example. Plus they have a fairly large presence in big computer sellers, like Surcouf and FNAC. There's always a crowd around the macs, when the other computers are barely looked at.
Well being that Apple doesn't have low end laptops it makes it very difficult to get into that market, unless apple starts making low end systems... which could be disastrous for Apple. Apple been trying to get the reputation of the better PC, Like Gateway did back in the mid 90's and Dell in the early 2000's. And what called Gateways down fall, after gaining significant market share in the higher end they started competing in cost, by going in cost while they got signifgant market share they shortly got reputation for poor quality and lost all they have gain... Dell is in this spiral too right now and loosing to Apple and HP. Now if Apple is smart they will stay away from the low end market and stay focus on the mid-high end, they may be able to maintain their gains.
The best reason for a Mac
That's it. I go to the Mac department
But joking apart, decisions for a computer in business are very "male". Feelings and emotions, having a nice working equipment and all this stuff are more "female". But things develop. People get more mature, even the "males" start understanding the emotional context of a working situation.
BTW I'm male...
Confidemus
That's it. I go to the Mac department
But joking apart, decisions for a computer in business are very "male". Feelings and emotions, having a nice working equipment and all this stuff are more "female". But things develop. People get more mature, even the "males" start understanding the emotional context of a working situation.
BTW I'm male...
Confidemus
I've always wanted to see the data. . .
about Apple's market share among people who are free to choose their computer.
Personally, I would be 100% Macs if I could, but the companies I have worked for are always sticking me with these ***** Dells!
about Apple's market share among people who are free to choose their computer.
Personally, I would be 100% Macs if I could, but the companies I have worked for are always sticking me with these ***** Dells!
I've also noticed this very same phenomenon. Macs generally work fast enough for up to 5 years but Windows people begin to complain after half a year. Not many are using their generic PC laptop for 3 years, most feel justified to buy a new one after 18(ish) months of use. And that's one of the reasons why they settle for "the cheapest" computer available.
One of my PC-using friends just recently made this observation on his own. He decided that once his now 6 months old "new laptop that has already begun to noticeably slow down" has reached the age of 18 months, he will surely be buying a Mac laptop. He would want to buy one right now, but cannot justify the purchase to his wife because his PC laptop is still rather new
And my father has just reached a point where he feels his 5 year old iBook has served him long enough.
Quite a difference? The PC guy buys is soon to buy a fifth laptop before the Mac guy decides to buy #2. Surely the Mac guy pays less for his "expensive" hardware...
So this really tells us that 'marketshare' doesn't mean anything. It also means that the press and information gathering services are absolutely crap.
...did we not know this already? Who was born last night? Come on, admit.
BTW, did anyone mention Steve Jobs in this thread yet? Then I shall:
It's all Steve Jobs' fault. He should have released OSX 10.5 by now.
...did we not know this already? Who was born last night? Come on, admit.
BTW, did anyone mention Steve Jobs in this thread yet? Then I shall:
It's all Steve Jobs' fault. He should have released OSX 10.5 by now.