Apple's Laptop Marketshare Up 2%

[FlashBIOS]

Originally posted by Punky Brewster
Also, I'm new to these new mac publications (took some years off, bought pc, then switched back). But can someone tell me What the hell is 'Think Secret' mean? How the heck do you 'Think Secret'? And is it true the person who writes the thinking secret secrets is only a 14 year old boy who is still in high school?

Think Secret is a play off Apple's old Think Different marketing campaign.

I seriously doubt that Nick dePlume, even though he might use a pen name (for obvious reasons), is 14 (also for obvious reasons). The same is also said of Ryan at MacOSRumors, and they can't both be 14. People just like to pick on the writers of rumor sites when they get frustrated that the G6 didn't come out on Tuesday like they reported.

Historically Think Secret has been very accurate.

 

[Chealion]

Nick at ThinkSecret either just graduated or is finishing up a Linux certification course at his local college. (If memory serves right). He is not 14, more like 24. ThinkSecret is also a really nice site, but MacRumors is the best for following all the rumors that all the sites put out.

 

[xStep]

Originally posted by kristianm
Come on, 10% are way to high. Just check the latest browser ratings, IE for windows has something like 98%. Please try to moderate yourself.

I've never liked those stats because many Mac users set their browsers to appear as a Windows browser to get around poorly designed web sites. In some cases the sites choosen have been pro Wintel.

Still, I'd doubt the installed base of Macs is 10%. I'd really like to see how that number is arrived at.

 

[macMaestro]

Nice pic. I like how the G5 appears to be levatating - a nice subtle touch.

 

[Peyote]

Originally posted by xStep
I've never liked those stats because many Mac users set their browsers to appear as a Windows browser to get around poorly designed web sites. In some cases the sites choosen have been pro Wintel.

Still, I'd doubt the installed base of Macs is 10%. I'd really like to see how that number is arrived at.

How exactly do you make your mac browser appear as a windows browser to a website?

 

[MacsRgr8]

Cool.

So, "underpowered", "expensive" PowerBooks and iBooks are doing very well, eh?

So what d'ya guys think the huge G5 will do?
What about next year???

2004 could ab-so-lu-te-ly be:
"The year of Apple computers"



-waiting 4 the future....

 

[mymemory]

That is because the 12" Powerbook, tough little monster.

 

[MacFan26]

It's good to hear good things about Apple market share on the rise. Nothing is more annoying when you're watching something about computers on TV and they mention bad market share. I was watching a "back to school" segment on CNN where they were showing laptops and desktops. The guy actually said "Even though Apple has 3 percent of the market share, we'll show these anyway." Ugh.

 

[Oirectine]

Originally posted by Peyote
How exactly do you make your mac browser appear as a windows browser to a website?

When you visit a website, your browser sends to the server what is called a "user-agent string" which records such things as the OS, the platform, and the web browser. If you activate Safari's debug menu, you can change the user-agent string to a different browser. Basically you're lying to the server about what you're running.

There are several shareware utilities that can activate Safari's debug menu, just google for it. Or you could just type this into a terminal window (while Safari is not running)

defaults write com.apple.safari Includedebugmenu 1


Hope that was helpful

By the way, this is my first post to these forums, although I've been reading them for a long time. Hi!

 

[MacsRgr8]

Originally posted by Oirectine
When you visit a website, your browser sends to the server what is called a "user-agent string" which records such things as the OS, the platform, and the web browser. If you activate Safari's debug menu, you can change the user-agent string to a different browser. Basically you're lying to the server about what you're running.

There are several shareware utilities that can activate Safari's debug menu, just google for it. Or you could just type this into a terminal window (while Safari is not running)

defaults write com.apple.safari Includedebugmenu 1


Hope that was helpful

By the way, this is my first post to these forums, although I've been reading them for a long time. Hi!

And a usefull one too!

Registered a few weeks back, I see.
Good to see imformative maiden posts!

Welcome, Oirectine!

 

[sedarby]

Re: Just wait until Apple releases

Originally posted by jayscheuerle
this...

Ladies and Gentlemen, may we introduce you to the HoverTop!

Better tie that thing down.

 

[Ed at Bitcafe]

Originally posted by TEG
Its Awesome, Its just sad that that is just new sales. It would be nice to see what the total percentage of computers in use in the market are Macs. I think if you were to do that, you'll find that at least 10% of all computers (In everyday use) are Macs. ... I wish that when people (Read: PC Zelots) quote market share, they understand what Market Share means, and the fundemental reasons why.

Market share means percentage of sales for a given company in a given product category for a given time period. There's nothing wrong with measuring and reporting that. When pundits ‚œ even "PC zealots" ‚œ report that Apple's market share for such-and-such time period was 3% overall or 7% for US laptops or what have you, there's nothing inherently incorrect about those numbers.

Yes, installed base is a nice number too, and Apple's installed base share may be larger than its market share. And yes, maybe pundits should look at installed base more often. But it's not worth too much attention. First, any measure will be very imprecise (what are you going to do, walk into every house and office and count computers?). And just as important, installed base is a look at the past. Market share is a look at the future ‚œ the future of installed base, in fact.

Anyway, kudos to Apple for the great laptop market share news. Let's hope the share keeps rising for all manner of Macs.

Ed
www.bitcafe.com

 

[Omek]

That's wonderful Apple but could you give me my dang 17" already?!?!?!?! I've been waiting a week now!!!!

 

[Rincewind42]

Re: Re: that survey

Originally posted by orb
What percentage of users actually know how to do that? Of that, what percentage actually do that? I'd say it's insignificant...

And there is also the case of many professional users going to work and browsing websites (where they have a faster connection) using a PC, even if they own a Mac at home. Or the case of multiple computers in a household (Macs & PCs) and maybe Mom is a Graphic Artist on her Mac and doesn't let the kids surf on her computer, relegating the kids to the PC.

There are dozens of possible reasons for why PCs could show up more than Macs, all dependent on the sampling methodology.

 

[Rincewind42]

Originally posted by Ed at Bitcafe
Market share means percentage of sales for a given company in a given product category for a given time period. There's nothing wrong with measuring and reporting that. When pundits ‚ even "PC zealots" ‚ report that Apple's market share for such-and-such time period was 3% overall or 7% for US laptops or what have you, there's nothing inherently incorrect about those numbers.

Yes, installed base is a nice number too, and Apple's installed base share may be larger than its market share. And yes, maybe pundits should look at installed base more often. But it's not worth too much attention. First, any measure will be very imprecise (what are you going to do, walk into every house and office and count computers?). And just as important, installed base is a look at the past. Market share is a look at the future ‚ the future of installed base, in fact.

But marketshare doesn't take into account product lifetimes. I know someone's gonna hate this, but it is really just like cars. BMW's marketshare is even lower than Apple's, however because the car is made better than say a Ford, you will see fewer people replacing their BMWs. Thus BMWs installed base (cars functioning and on the road) will be higher than it's marketshare, and as long as BMW at least maintains that level of craftsmanship, their installed base will be higher than their marketshare. Thus you can't derive anything from marketshare except how much of a product was bought relative to it's competitors for that period of time, it really isn't a good measure of the future at all.

 

[kaneda]

wait til G5 powerbook

Wait til G5 powerbook is coming out! that will dominate the whole market! maybe a 20" powerbook & less then 6 lbs.

and how about a color screen ipod, that can play movies... just imagine you are on the road with your ipod..and watching movie in your car, and then Dell will copy it 2 years later.

 

[NicoMan]

Originally posted by beerguy
Yup -

I also fit into that "Unix Geeks" classification being bantered about. You folks almost make it sound like a bad thing.

No, it's not bad... You guys are just, you know, different...

 

[NicoMan]

Re: Those execs...

Originally posted by moby1
I just hope those execs has as close an eye on quality issues and service as they do on the bottom line.

I thought about upgrading my Ti to a new Al Book but I've seen too many posts about quality issues. I'll hold onto the Ti for a while longer...

What quality issues? Could you fill me in on that one? I just keep on reading posts from people absolutely ecstatic because they have received their new laptops. Nothing about issues. But then again, they are a bit biased, especially right after the delivery of their new toy.

 

[sparks9]

I think it is well deserved

 

[Ed at Bitcafe]

Originally posted by Rincewind42
But marketshare doesn't take into account product lifetimes.

Of course it doesn't; it doesn't intend to and doesn't need to.

Thus you can't derive anything from marketshare except how much of a product was bought relative to it's competitors for that period of time,

Naturally; that's what it measures. If the topic at hand is percentage of Macs among all computers recently purchased, then market share is the relevant statistic.

it really isn't a good measure of the future at all.

Changes in market share are an excellent measure of the future. Regardless of whether Macs last longer or not, if market share now is less than in the past, you will see share of installed base shrink in the future. If market share now is growing (and it may be! : ) , you can expect to see share of installed base further increase.

In short: If you want to talk about product longevity, that's fine. If you want to talk about number of computers out there, that's fine too, and installed base figures are relevant.

And if you want to talk about what's selling now, then it's market share figures you want. There's nothing wrong with that.

Ed
www.bitcafe.com

 

[zygoat]

Math

Good, I'm glad you guys fixed the language in your summary, compared with ThinkSecret's article.

ThinkSecret claims that the market share increased by two per cent. A change from 5.1 to 7.0 percentiles in the entire market is actually an increase of 37 per cent. Way to go Apple.

-ben

 

[WM.]

Originally posted by Punky Brewster
Am I the only one who is wondering what the hell this has to do with 'MacRumors'? Or 'Thinking Secret'. I don't think this is breaking news at all and it seems to be presented in a lack of real inside news. Anyone can obtain this knowledge publically, if you know when and where to look for it.

Well, I haven't seen it anywhere else. It's not on MacCentral or anywhere else--and they're owned by IDG, whose numbers TS reported (right?)...so I really appreciate it that ThinkSecret reported this.

Also, I'm new to these new mac publications (took some years off, bought pc, then switched back). But can someone tell me What the hell is 'Think Secret' mean? How the heck do you 'Think Secret'? And is it true the person who writes the thinking secret secrets is only a 14 year old boy who is still in high school?

I haven't seen that said anywhere. Did you just pull it out of your hat, or what? IMHO, ThinkSecret combined with MacRumors (and, lately, AppleInsider) will give you the best possible picture of the future of Apple. I think they're generally more accurate than MacRumors, which may be only because MR has way more articles, some of which seem to be based on less-solid information than TS's relatively few. ThinkSecret won't publish anything until they're almost positive, it seems. They have been wrong, but not by much and not very often at all.

To me, it doesn't matter how old Nick is. He runs one of the two best Mac rumor sites and that's all that matters (assuming he's not doing anything illegal in the process--which he probably is in the eyes of Apple... ). No need to put him down.

Also, what happened to www.macosrumors.com? Back in the day it used to be ok. I realized that the author of that site started drinking heavily and doing large quantities of ellicite drugs by his early twenties and would update the news very high and messed up and eventyually lost credibility.

Where did you hear that one? Again, I haven't seen it said anywhere else. I don't have much use for MOSR (although sometimes I'm surprised how many of their predictions come true--six months after they said they would), but it's not very nice to start slandering people left and right.

But now the site is not even accessible!

so what has happened in my absense? we have raging drug addict who is so ripped on drugs he hasnt noticed his site went down in weeks and a 13 year old boy who titles his website after a phrase that sounds so juviniel it isnt even funny.... or maybe i just didnt sleep enough last night!

What was the point of this whole rant? To talk **** about other rumor sites in an effort to be, I dunno, popular on these boards? Ain't gonna work. It's fine to have a chuckle at MOSR's recent lack of accuracy--their fall from grace--but not so much to randomly accuse the man behind it of being an addict. (Not that having a problem with substance abuse would make him a bad person [IMNSHO], but in some people's eyes it might tarnish his reputation, so it's not very nice to say that if you can't back it up.)

Not a great way to start your posting career on MR, IMO.

WM

 

[allpar]

Originally posted by dxp4acu
Seeing as it was already quoted as a percentage, it is totally appropriate for him to say up 2%. It can get confusing, though.

No, it is totally inappropriate. If your market share is 50%, a 2% increase would bring it to 51%. A two-point increase would bring it to 52%. There's at least one right way to say anything, and this wasn't it. But then again, they also referred to "market share" rather than "laptop market share."

 

[allpar]

Originally posted by Rincewind42
however because the car is made better than say a Ford, you will see fewer people replacing their BMWs. Thus BMWs installed base (cars functioning and on the road) will be higher than it's marketshare, and as long as BMW at least maintains that level of craftsmanship, their installed base will be higher than their marketshare.

Actually quality is not as important as resale value. When a car sells for $10,000, after ten years it usually ends up at $500...when it sells for $30,000 new, it'll be more valuable used... the original Ford Mustang was hardly a quality achievement, but there are many around because some people HAVE to have one, so they keep getting fixed. Same with the old Jeep CJ series - they had an incredibly high resale value so they got a lot of repairs your better-made Valiants and such would not get. It comes down to "is it worth repairing this?" and for Macs, the answer is usually yes, the machine is worth more than the repair.

As an example, if I take my by-the-way-it's-surprisingly-reliable Dodge Neon to the mechanci and find out the a/c has totally blown, and it's $1,000 to replace it (this is hypothetical, remember), and the book value is $2,000, well, that's a real thinker. But if I take my surprisingly-unreliable Jaguar in and find it costs $3,000 to fix, I'd still probably do it, because the resale value is still over $10,000.

That said, unlike BMWs, Macs do have demonstrably better quality than just about anything else on the market. (Lexus would be a safer illustration, since BMW quality isn't usually on the top of any lists. But I AM glad you didn't choose "bottom of the list" Mercedes!)

 

[NicoMan]

Bloody f**king car analogies.

Put your hands up in the air if you want to hear another car analogy...

Anyone?

Let me see those hands...

Didn't think soooo.