In all fairness, he did post that at 4am, but seriously, go put on your tinfoil hat if you think 9/11 was a conspiracy, and I'll continue to be a productive citizen while you fear your government.
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NPD: Apple's March 2007 Desktop, Laptop, and MP3 Marketshare
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In all fairness, he did post that at 4am, but seriously, go put on your tinfoil hat if you think 9/11 was a conspiracy, and I'll continue to be a productive citizen while you fear your government.
Well, looking at his past comments, he seems to be one of those guys who instantly post something like "What are you doing on MacRumors?" whenever someone posts something remotely negative about Apple. So when someone basically says "Macs are becoming more popular, but iPod has slightly slipped in market-share", he sees that as a mortal offense against Apple, since it isn't unreserved praise for the company.
I don't like this news. I am coming to apple because of the small marketshare. I don't want to be part of something big. If i wanted that, i'd get windows. the more people that use apple products, the bigger target apple becomes for virus/malware writers.
Besides, these numbers are not fully representative, but people are drawing conclusions from them. I still hope apple never gets more than an overall 5% market share.
Besides, these numbers are not fully representative, but people are drawing conclusions from them. I still hope apple never gets more than an overall 5% market share.
Most people use Macs because it offers a benefit to them, they do not use it because it's rare. If the rarity of the platform is important to you, how about trying out OpenSolaris for example?
Apple could have 20-30% market-share and that still wouldn't be that much of an issue. I mean, there would still be 70-80% of easy-to-crack Windows-machines out there, and malware-people would target them instead. Why focus on hard-to-crack minority, when there are easier alternatives?
The bigger the share, the more viable the platform is. Using something because it's rare smells of.... snobbery.
Another piece of anecdotal evidence:
I notice here in Germany Macs are appearing on TV a lot. Comercials which try to sell something intangible to do with computers (eg fast internet access) usually show iMacs. Soap operas and other programmes also tend to show successful businessmen and artist types with Macs.
It makes sense I guess to use somewhat unusual, expensive looking and sexy technology for these purposes.
Sadly it's hard to measure to what extent these images can motivate users to switch.
I notice here in Germany Macs are appearing on TV a lot. Comercials which try to sell something intangible to do with computers (eg fast internet access) usually show iMacs. Soap operas and other programmes also tend to show successful businessmen and artist types with Macs.
It makes sense I guess to use somewhat unusual, expensive looking and sexy technology for these purposes.
Sadly it's hard to measure to what extent these images can motivate users to switch.
It kinda takes all the impact out of your "I'm an internet maverick, living on a steady diet of government-repressed truth, Tic-Tacs, and iProducts" speech when you have to censor your cuss words
Hmm. Lost Marketshare to Creative and Sandisk?
Maybe Apple should just make the 7G iPod with widescreen and iPhone features without the phone part and they will get their marketshare back up. I am waiting Apple.
Maybe Apple should just make the 7G iPod with widescreen and iPhone features without the phone part and they will get their marketshare back up. I am waiting Apple.
On the contrary... this will apply prob to the UK. But in Latin America, Asia and rest of europe apple is not 'known' that well.
That is wonderful for YOU... but a few of us videophile, audiophile, and photophiles want an iPod that can do what the iphone does (sans the phone) with a 120+ GB HDD.
Is that tinfoil hat comfortable? How about your bomb shelter in your garage
Just kidding man. But take it a bit easy... Steve Jobs is no saint either, he wants your money just as bad as Gates. Besides, that kind of attitude will get you kicked off of the threads from the Mac Rumors SS, that if you ask me are a bit unfair to certain posters.Shh! That's them now... gotta go... I hope you read this before they take it down.
Viva La Resistance!
How does Apple get marketshare back? Answer...ADD A BUILT IN FM TUNER! It is that simple. I want one bad! I don't want to pay $50 to buy an external FM tuner when competitors are building them in for the same price. I would get rid of my mini if they did that. Otherwise, I don't care for bigger screans, bigger disks, etc. I want that feature!! I get sick of music fast and I like listening to talk shows in the morning.
Doing a quick browse of the SanDisk and Creative portable media player selections, I don't really see how the iPod could have lost markethare to the competition. The competitors do have the advantage of having these "widescreen" portable media players. Drop an iPod with Multitouch and all of a sudden the competition will go silent. They also have a huge selection, but they overlap their own low and mid-range players. And they definitely kill Apple with price. A Zen Stone is $39 vs. the iPod Shuffle for $79. Both 1 GB, screen-less, tiny music players. Sansa 8 GB and the iPod 8 GB are equal in retail prices, but I do see it discounted often like on Amazon where it's about $180.
I think the iPod line up is fine minus one high-end widescreen iPod. A fresh, redesign and a price drop would help fight off the competition.
But, based on the posts in this thread, everybody seems to have a opinion.
I think the iPod line up is fine minus one high-end widescreen iPod. A fresh, redesign and a price drop would help fight off the competition.
But, based on the posts in this thread, everybody seems to have a opinion.
That is what I'm waiting for. take the iPhone, remove cell-phone and camera and replace Flash with HD. Don't.... touch... anything... else. Keep the WiFi, keep the email, keep Safari... I would buy that. I would be first in line buying that. And I'm not kidding. Turn the iPod in to pocket-computer. You wouldn't have to sacrifice usabilty, and it wouldn't cannibalize iPhone. And even if it did, Apple would be earning LOTS of money, they would just earn it with iPod instead of iPhone.
I could see maybe two models: 40GB and 80+GB. Ideal price would be $299 for the cheaper model, but I would buy it even if it cost $349. As to Nano.... What about current Nano and make it full-screen with touch-controls? In essense: the iPhone with smaller screen, no cell-phone, camera or Wifi. In essence: remove everything from the iPhone, apart from the iPod.
Seriously: iPhone might be the best thing for Apple. Not only does it give them a foothold in the cell-phone market, but it gives them the groundwork for future iPods. They could turn that one device (iPhone) in to iPod Video AND iPod Nano. The differentiation is already there.
Well, to quote Lionel Hutz, "There's THE TRUTH, and then there's the truth."
I'm always confused by "marketshare" figures, since everyone is working with a different definition of what "marketshare" actually is. Given the caveats these numbers come with, I'm not sure there's really much to infer about Apple's actual market penetration, since these figures represent seem to represent only a single and highly restricted point in time: useful for propaganda, but that's about all.
I'd much rather have concrete figures for the overall percentage of folks using Macs as compared to Windows boxes that represent sales from, say, the past five years. Ditto for iPods, though I'm not surprised they're losing some ground to cheaper and more robust players even if these don't work directly with iTunes.
Then again, Apple (Steve), has always been about having "better stuff" at a higher price point, which to me overlooks the fact that some folks simply want to surf the 'Net, check their email, and type Word documents and don't really care if they do it on a Mac or Windows box. Same for the iPods - anecdotally, I've seen a lot of youth lately using players other than the iPod when I ride the bus, and I have to wonder if the price point is the determining factor. On some level, simply having a portable MP3/MP4 player at all trumps the "cool" factor of an iPod. The youth I have seen with iPods seem to only have shuffles or 2GB Nanos more than anything else, which are at the lower end of the pricing spectrum.
I'm always confused by "marketshare" figures, since everyone is working with a different definition of what "marketshare" actually is. Given the caveats these numbers come with, I'm not sure there's really much to infer about Apple's actual market penetration, since these figures represent seem to represent only a single and highly restricted point in time: useful for propaganda, but that's about all.
I'd much rather have concrete figures for the overall percentage of folks using Macs as compared to Windows boxes that represent sales from, say, the past five years. Ditto for iPods, though I'm not surprised they're losing some ground to cheaper and more robust players even if these don't work directly with iTunes.
Then again, Apple (Steve), has always been about having "better stuff" at a higher price point, which to me overlooks the fact that some folks simply want to surf the 'Net, check their email, and type Word documents and don't really care if they do it on a Mac or Windows box. Same for the iPods - anecdotally, I've seen a lot of youth lately using players other than the iPod when I ride the bus, and I have to wonder if the price point is the determining factor. On some level, simply having a portable MP3/MP4 player at all trumps the "cool" factor of an iPod. The youth I have seen with iPods seem to only have shuffles or 2GB Nanos more than anything else, which are at the lower end of the pricing spectrum.
Please...mp3 players exist EXACTLY because no one could stand FM radio anymore...people want to listen to THEIR music, not someone else's...FM tuners are irrelevant, to say the least.
Hard to believe that a little bit of irony/sarcasm is being so obviously missed here and elsewhere!
Blimey, some people get a bit touchy at times!
Hmmn, actually I wouldn't mind one in MY Nano, sometimes I just want to listen to something unplanned (and i don't mean Shuffled!).
Watch This
hey guys,
i don't know much about htis kind of stuff. But you better check out this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEvinCq-N2s is this a new macbook?!
hey guys,
i don't know much about htis kind of stuff. But you better check out this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEvinCq-N2s is this a new macbook?!
no, it isn't that simple. or are you saying that apple has gone down slightly because they have no built-in tuner?
i don't
podcasts. i really see no point in fm-radio anymore
NO, they are not irrelevant. I don't think like you nor does everyone else. I want to listen to talk shows in the morning while I am at work. I like morning shows. I DON'T want to hassle with podcasts. This is a major feature that is missing in my opinion. Why does every other MP3 player have one and the iPod is "too cool" to not have one? Seriously, what is it going to hurt to add one?
wrong on all points.
1. I don't care what most people do. that's why I want to use a mac, because most people dont. get it? I could use something with an even smaller user base, but apple has mainstream products supporting it, the others don't. it's in a nice warm happy middle place surrounded by warm fuzzies.
2. with vista being very secure and a hacker contest drawing attention to mac osx, bigger marketshare will create bigger interest.
3. i am a snob.
just kidding. Apple's small marketshare doesn't mean it's platform is not viable. millions of people use mac osx, and apple isn't going anywhere, so there will always be support for it. no, I like apple small. it's better for everyone that way.
Well, if I wanted FM I would be jogging with an old walkman...iPods were created to put YOUR library in YOUR pocket.
FM just plain sucks, either because of commercials, bad music or static; if you really feel like listening to talk shows, just turn your old radio on at home or in the car...better yet, listen to them on the web afterwards or download the podcasts...can't get any better.
iPods WON because they are SIMPLE. Everyone else keeps on cramming "features"...and that's why they are the minority.
three letters for you: NPR
however, many NPR shows podcast now. yet fm would use less power, so I could save battery.
but you're right, less is more.