First off, I said Apple would build something in the same size factor, not the same form factor. What I expect is something more along the lines of a note-pad-sized tablet; perhaps equivalent to doubling all the dimensions of the current iPod touch to make a unit about the size of the current netbooks without having to put it down to use it. True, it will likely be more expensive than the current netbooks, but it will have them totally outclassed in usability.
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Apple's US Market Share Growth Slows in 4Q 2008
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First off, I said Apple would build something in the same size factor, not the same form factor. What I expect is something more along the lines of a note-pad-sized tablet; perhaps equivalent to doubling all the dimensions of the current iPod touch to make a unit about the size of the current netbooks without having to put it down to use it. True, it will likely be more expensive than the current netbooks, but it will have them totally outclassed in usability.
Huh? Where in the world did you buy a Macbook with MSOffice preinstalled? Certainly not any Apple Store! And it seems quite obvious that even if it IS preinstalled on your Macbook, you sure don't know how to remove it!
Are you sure you're talking about a MacBook and not some Hackintosh?
Jobs and the Face of Apple
Steve Jobs has served as the front man for Apple for many years, brilliantly developing a remarkably successful brand that has thrived, even during the tumultuous downturn of the economy. His dwindling health has set off a rash of bad publicity that investors have responded to. In addition to addressing his health, Jobs needs to find a replacement for his position, which seems near impossible given the amount of single handed decision-making he has invested into the company.
Evan
http://www.beyondrace.com
Steve Jobs has served as the front man for Apple for many years, brilliantly developing a remarkably successful brand that has thrived, even during the tumultuous downturn of the economy. His dwindling health has set off a rash of bad publicity that investors have responded to. In addition to addressing his health, Jobs needs to find a replacement for his position, which seems near impossible given the amount of single handed decision-making he has invested into the company.
Evan
http://www.beyondrace.com
The Macbook has a super fast NVidia graphic card, which should improve the general speed feeling. With the upcoming Snow Leopard it should be even faster.
Sure go ahead buy yourself a PC laptop with super specs, which do not represent the reality. Get yourself a virus, free of charge and find out that your PC is slowing down after a year use because of OS limitation
I have a Macbook pro for 19 months, sorry but I never go back to my other 6 PC laptops. It is the first one which is trouble free and give me a super nice feeling
Yeah, I can't believe that people think that Firewire is 'dying'. Last April the number of firewire ports reached 1 billion via Engadget. My inexpensive Toshiba laptop came with Firewire. You can buy the controller chip TI TSB43AB23 for $5 in lots of 5,000. Firewire is getting more popular, not less.
That was not my point. I was not talking about the stock. The stock movement is meaningless. I was talking about share of the market. I was NOT saying that his illness was holding back the company. I was saying that him being CEO now with some of his obsessions and stances in opposition to might be holding back Apple to fully take advantage of the what he has done. Often the person to get a company from A to B is not the person to take the company from B to C.
It's not are they doing good. It's whether they could be doing even better if Jobs was out of the picture now that he has set the course. There are too many chicken little's running around right now IMO.
Actually if you look at the figures in the numbers table, there is actual growth...
Apple probably took a hit on rumors of new iMacs and Mac Minis in the pipeline for a Steve-less MacWorld announcement.
Apple needs to refresh the iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro, and xServe.
BTW, Apple seems to be doing it again. The xServe is very difficult to find on the Apple Business Store site. Are they trying to discourage people from buying the system? Possibly discontinuing the xServe? I wouldn't be surprise since they don't update it very often.
Of course there's growth -- far more than the rest of the PC industry. This has been pointed out already. But we're well into the phase that comes in any lengthy thread, where hardly anybody reads anything.
If that is the case, why is Apple doing BETTER than average in the computer-business? Seriously people: if you want to discuss the statistics, you could at least read the statistics!
Lots of people know a cheaper product when they see one. Apple's market is steadily growing and will likely continue to do so. Acer's market is that of people often looking for the cheapest laptop they can find. Apple's market never has been, nor will it ever be, made up of people looking for the lowest priced bargain basement thing that they can find.
Hopefully this will encourage Apple to do a netbook now that they see the potential market growth that it would achieve.
Yes, it was an Macbook - the same one I'm typing this on - and it came with the Office 2004 trial preinstalled (as did my sisters nearly identical Macbook). First I tried the un-installer, which seemed to work. But when I installed my copy of Office X, clicking on word documents I saw that pieces of the 2004 trial remained. I then tried the drag-it-to-the-trash route, but all my Office documents still pointed to the trial version of 2004 rather then Office X.
I can't recall the exact steps I eventually took to get rid of it, but it was NOT simply a matter of running the uninstall app.
Netbooks take toll on Apple
http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...-on-apple.aspx
sums up Apple's problem nicely...
A mac mini needs to be $399
and Apple needs an Atom netbook.
otherwise they will miss it and their growth will stall completely in the next year.
http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...-on-apple.aspx
sums up Apple's problem nicely...
A mac mini needs to be $399
and Apple needs an Atom netbook.
otherwise they will miss it and their growth will stall completely in the next year.
That link is bad, but the entire premise is baloney. How could anything be "taking a toll" on Apple, when they grew while the rest of the industry shrunk?
Here is the correct link to the above article:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/01/15/netbooks-take-a-toll-on-apple.aspx
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/01/15/netbooks-take-a-toll-on-apple.aspx
I'm sure you can guess the general structure of the analysis, but it's very simple and fairly incomplete:
1. Apple was out-pacing the rest of the industry in terms of growth;
2. Now Acer has outpaced Apple, because of netbooks;
3. Therefore, Apple should sell netbooks.
And the author does himself a disservice (in an incomplete attempt to be objective) by noting that number of units shipped isn't the whole story; however, he does little to discuss what other aspects are important, or even how Acer will ultimately benefit from having shipped so many cheap netbooks.
Its good its slowing. I hope it shrinks back to 7%. The less market share, the less chance well have hackers makings malware and spy ware for us.
But Apple is still outpacing the rest of the industry in terms of growth. Each quarter one of the Windows OEMs grabs a bunch of market share from one of the others. So what? Acer lost money last year and probably won't make very much this year. Now, there's a business plan to recommend.
My explanation would be that expectations for Apple products have been ridiculously high in recent months, the global economy is suffering, and other companies have enjoyed market growths such as the Netbook phenomenon. Oh, and Steve has left!
But Apple's problem during these hard economic times is also that their products will never be as cheap and affordable as the competition. And why would you want it to be if you're Apple?
This is the thing I don't understand about their business model- they seem to want to become mainstream and grow the company at a disturbingly large rate, yet their computing products are still too left of field, attracting mostly the fashionista crowd out there.
And that's why we all like Apple computers- they're unashamedly unique and beautiful. But the notion that Apple is going to suddenly produce some el-cheapo iNetbook is absurd, that is, unless they are willing to throw away their credibility for share-market.
My 2cents...
But Apple's problem during these hard economic times is also that their products will never be as cheap and affordable as the competition. And why would you want it to be if you're Apple?
This is the thing I don't understand about their business model- they seem to want to become mainstream and grow the company at a disturbingly large rate, yet their computing products are still too left of field, attracting mostly the fashionista crowd out there.
And that's why we all like Apple computers- they're unashamedly unique and beautiful. But the notion that Apple is going to suddenly produce some el-cheapo iNetbook is absurd, that is, unless they are willing to throw away their credibility for share-market.
My 2cents...
Speak for yourself on that one. It could look like a POS as long as it didn't run Windows and coped with whatever I threw at it functionality-wise.
Give me a break. The upcoming Snow Leopard won't work AT ALL on the PPC Macs and you are digging on Windows 7's few compatibility issues?
Cognitive dissonance some?
Many hardcore Mac users' opinion is already that (i.e., that Apple is throwing away its credibility).
When Apple decide to do things like phase out FW, force people to have a glossy screen, place all the FW ports on one bus, drivers that stunt the performance of the graphics chip, by making batteries non-user servicable (e.g. MB Air, MB Pro 17", iPod touch, iPhone, etc...) and so forth - Apple definitely begins to lose credibility.