Mac Marketshare Increasing

[theBB]

I'm holding off until WWDC to decide what route of "Mac conversion" I am going to be using. If Leopard has a built in Parallels type solution (which I believe it will), then I will absolutely begin my church's mac conversion in January.

I don't think it will have virtualization, especially with the way they are supporting Parallels solution itself. I think a dual-boot or a fast OS switching type of solution is much more likely. Somebody around here was suggesting "sleeping" one OS and starting another. That's almost good enough. Afterall Apple does not want you to use Windows, it only wants you to believe you could run Windows if you had to, in order to ease switcher anxiety.

 

[brepublican]

Increased market share is a good thing, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if Apple overtook Dell...

 

[shawnce]

Lets hope this is a start of solid trend (I believe it is) but don't be surprised if the market share numbers are a little bumpy (up and down) as they inch their way up... Apple has relatively few products (compared to their main competition in this market) and as a result their product release cycles can contribute a lot of variability into quarterly market share numbers and depending how they line up with seasonal market aspects you can get even more variability.

In other words (as I have said before) look for trends not point to point comparisons.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I've been teaching Mac courses at a local junior college, and have found that quite a few of my students are new/returning Mac users. I think Apple has quite a bit of potential to grow the Mac's market share, particularly from the latter group -- people who abandoned the Mac during the dark days of the '90s, but are now prepared to take another look. On the pro side, I believe market share will probably continue to stagnate for some months to come, until the mission-critical applications are all dual-binary. I think we could be optimistically be looking at 5.5 - 6.0% market share by this time next year, depending on how well the launch of 10.5 goes, and how much thunder is taken away by Vista.

 

[irbdavid]

If joe pc-user becomes joe mac-user, then macs wont be fun anymore

That said, i'd like to see market share go up in certain areas. A lot more scientists are switching (mostly switching back, after ditching around late 90s) these days.

It's hard to be an elitist mac user if you're no longer in the minority...

 

[irbdavid]

Afterall Apple does not want you to use Windows, it only wants you to believe you could run Windows if you had to, in order to ease switcher anxiety.

Actually they want to sell you the hardware, right? Apple calls itself a hardware company that makes a bit of software on the side, rather than software company that makes hardware to sell with it, doesn't it?

 

[BenRoethig]

Finally Apple are back from those awful tanking sales G4 years, though will they ever break through that 5% glass ceiling?

5-7% is possible. Don't ever expect Apple to get above 10 again though.

 

[brepublican]

If joe pc-user becomes joe mac-user, then macs wont be fun anymore

That said, i'd like to see market share go up in certain areas. A lot more scientists are switching (mostly switching back, after ditching around late 90s) these days.

It's hard to be an elitist mac user if you're no longer in the minority...

I'm not too sure I agree with the reason you give though. My main concern is quality control. Even with the paltry share increase Apple has seen during the past year, quality control has become an issue. Would not like to see how much poorer with a 10% share thats all

 

[CEAbiscuit]

reassuring to me even if it only means I will be able to buy computers that run a Mac OS for the next 15+ years.

Exactly. Stating the obvious, bbut now that you can run windows, I think the growth is unavoidable. All the companies that were "thinking" about converting can give OSX a try while running windows. 5%, here we come!

 

[Stella]

Pure sobbery, and imo, its ugly.

If joe pc-user becomes joe mac-user, then macs wont be fun anymore

It's hard to be an elitist mac user if you're no longer in the minority...

 

[IJ Reilly]

Pure sobbery, and imo, its ugly.

I'm sorry, I can't see you over the end of my nose.

 

[dashiel]

Increased market share can only be a good thing.

Most people I know however, who were using macs at uni or at work, have all switched back to windows in the last year or so and they are not looking back. I suppose marketshare in the UK is not in par with the US. It would be interesting to do a survey of this increased user base and discover the role of the mac platform as it has evolved these days.

I suppose my question is: Has the mac/osx platform changed direction towards its function and purpose? What is a mac with osx good for these days?

A few years back the mac was the platform of choice for the creative class such as designers, photographers, Video editors, etc. Most of these people, with the exception of video editors, have now switched to windows because of the better choice of software and better upgradeability.

the mac platform is still the choice for the creative class. you won't find more than a handful of print designers using windows. adobe/macromedia sales figures show just about 50/50. creative pros don't care one whit about upgradeability. final cut pro is absolutely devastating the film market right now, eating away at the market share of avid solutions. these are all factual and verifiable.

as for your anecdotal evidence of your friends switching back, i'm sure that has happened. i can anecdotally tell you two of my colleagues have switched recently, buying not one, but two laptops each (15" and 17"). thing is my anecdotal evidence is just as useless as yours, all that counts are cold hard numbers and 4.6 is greater than 3.2. clearly mac market share is on the rise.

 

[dashiel]

Phil Schiller recently that it isn't going to happen. "absolutely not, the R&D would be prohibitive and we’re not going to do it. Our solution is dual boot." At the same time, they are happy to promote Parallels.

schiller also said — i think the day before boot camp was announced — that apple wouldn't prevent users from putting windows on the intel macs, but they wouldn't facilitate it either.

apple is notorious for saying one thing and then turning around and doing the exact opposite the video ipod being a perfect example. i'm not saying it will happen, i'm just saying don't put much stock in comments from apple execs regarding future products.

 

[dashiel]

is this 4.8% for the quarter or 4.8% total market share? if the former, nice, but no big deal; if the latter then very big deal.

 

[gauriemma]

Sweet!


As long as Apple doesn't grow too fast, this is great news. Get to Gateway in the next few years, and I'll be happy. Just don't grow too big, Apple.

Catching up to Gateway is good, I suppose, but I seriously didn't even know they were even still around. That's a pretty low bar to set...

 

[DTphonehome]

Increased market share is a good thing, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if Apple overtook Dell...

Don't worry, you have a VERY long time to sort out your feelings. Apple ain't dethroning Dell for a while (if ever).

 

[Grimace]

Walt Mossberg wrote a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about 2 weeks ago in which he said independent research had noted that 19% of all college students now use a Mac. That number is expected to grow leaps and bounds by this time next year.

I would love to see this article -- can anyone PM me a link or post it here??

 

[Stella]

I'm sorry, I can't see you over the end of my nose.

:-D
ROTFL

 

[SiliconAddict]

Yah know the interesting thing? Until now you had to compare Apple against the entire industry. e.g. Apple vs. (Dell+gateway+Sony+HP+Toshiba+Comcrap+Alienware+Falcon Computers+etx.)

Now that Apple can run Windows Oranges to oranges can be compared. Until you start talking about OS's in which case you are back to talking Apples to Oranges.

Apple migration to Intel has created a disturbance in the force.


PS- I do Dell warrantee work. I can't tell you how many people cock there head when I pull out my MBP to look at laptop pull apart manuals. And even more who start asking questions when they see I'm running Windows. Heheh. I feel like PT Barnum.

is this 4.8% for the quarter or 4.8% total market share? if the former, nice, but no big deal; if the latter then very big deal.

I don't even need to look at the article to know its total. Apple doesn't have the manufacturing and distribution channels to increase their market share by 4% in a quarter. Hell I don't think Dell has that kind of force either.

 

[Macmaniac]

"Ques the Apple is Screwed and will die news story"

 

[slffl]

I'm still wondering what is good about this. I see it as a bad thing. More viruses, more crap shareware, lesser quality products.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

I don't even need to look at the article to know its total. Apple doesn't have the manufacturing and distribution channels to increase their market share by 4% in a quarter. Hell I don't think Dell has that kind of force either.

I think you misunderstood what he was asking (or maybe I'm just really confused).

I think he meant, 'did Apple sell 4.8% of all the computers shipped in that ONE quarter?' or 'does Apple now own 4.8% of the TOTAL computer market?'

Both are possible - although the latter is what the article discusses.

 

[bommai]

Dell Enterprise service

I work for GE and we are all Dell (unfortunately). Dell laptops, desktops, servers. Everybody gets Dell and nothing else. Can you imagine a company wide policy (300k workers). While the stuff breaks pretty quickly (my latitude laptop had cracks on it within 2 months of use), I was told that the enterprise service plans that Dell offers are unbeatable. The will swap stuff overnight and make sure you have something to work with. If Apple were to have a good service plan for enterprise, I think they will get more takers. Until then, Apple will be more popular with consumers and not enterprise.

Don't confuse Dell consumer service plans with enterprise. Enterprise is their bread and butter.

 

[SiliconAddict]

I'm still wondering what is good about this. I see it as a bad thing. More viruses, more crap shareware, lesser quality products.

Spoken like someone who doesn't have a clue about computers. Congratulations.

I work for GE and we are all Dell (unfortunately). Dell laptops, desktops, servers. Everybody gets Dell and nothing else. Can you imagine a company wide policy (300k workers). While the stuff breaks pretty quickly (my latitude laptop had cracks on it within 2 months of use), I was told that the enterprise service plans that Dell offers are unbeatable. The will swap stuff overnight and make sure you have something to work with. If Apple were to have a good service plan for enterprise, I think they will get more takers. Until then, Apple will be more popular with consumers and not enterprise.

Don't confuse Dell consumer service plans with enterprise. Enterprise is their bread and butter.

Dell has several levels of enterprise service. If they are looking at a company who is willing to drop their sorry butt they will upgrade their support contract to a higher level for free. I've seen this first hand.

 

[photo-video]

It's been a strong position of mine for over 1.5 years that Apple's market share was to rise significantly. Data in now demonstrates that the position I've have held is valid.

I expect to see a large spike in Apple's market share over the next few years and by the time we see the successor to Leopard, Apple will have 8% market share. I made that prediction earlier this year.

You can say you made the 8% prediction, but why don't you back it up with some proof? I can say that I predicted Apple would release software to dual boot an Intel Mac but without proof who would believe me?