Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Apple
Forget iPhones and iPods, the Mac is where it is at
We've been a little loopy about the iPhone around these parts, it is true. However, that tends to happen with any new product Apple releases, I mean we are sort of expected to exhibit a little more than passing interest in what the good folks in Cupertino are up to. That being said Fortune's Brent Schlender has penned a very good article about the great bugaboo of the Mac Web: market-share.
Schlender contends, and I agree, that while Apple's market-share is in single digits Apple is still sitting pretty. Every quarter more and more people are snapping up Macs (the iPhone/iPod halo effect perhaps?) which is very good for Apple's bottom line. Apple has fairly high margins on Macs, and even a slight up tick in market-share translates to lots and lots of dough for everyone's favorite fruit company (this is what I call the 'BMW theory of computer success').
Despite the fact that Apple dropped 'computer' from its name, the Mac is still a pillar of its success. The other two are some phone and a music player of all things!
[via The Mac Observer]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fraser Drew said 10:22AM on 8-23-2007
I always see it like this. The more people that buy iPods and iPhone's the better it is for the Mac, as Apple have more money to develop great new products, and now it seems like all Apple products are going to run OS X in the near future, development for the iPhone etc. will be controlled (slightly) alongside the development of OSX. This can only be good...
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Mitch said 10:34AM on 8-23-2007
Let's get real - the iPhone (which has been on the market for less than 60 days and sold around 500,000 units) is not the driving force behind increased Mac Sales.
More and more people are buying Macs because they are (currently) the best computer choice for lots and lots of people.
1. Safer, Easier - I don't see this mentioned enough - regular folks are sick to death of the virus and spyware nonsense that is close to impossible to avoid on a Windows PC. Buy a Mac, plug it in and go - no virus, no spyware.
2. Design - Apple has done a great job creating beautiful computers. From the mini to the Pro (and everything in between), the Mac lineup is made up of great looking computers.
3. Value - More and more people are realizing that Macs are fairly priced. Cheap is not good - value is good. You take into account the hardware, software, design, features and Macs look good on against the competition.
4. Vista - Microsoft did NOT release a great OS in Vista. The Windows / PC roadmap is out there and it isn't very appealing. The current OS (10.4) compares very favorably to any other current OS.
5. The Kids - the young folks don't have any investment in legacy hardware / software. They choose a computer based on the present and future. They are choosing Macs.
6. Intel - The ability of Macs to run Windows in addition to OS X is a great selling point. Many people need to be able to run an app or two but most folks just like the idea that they could if they wanted to.
7. Snowball - The more Macs that are sold --> the more happy Mac owners --> more positive word of mouth --> more Macs are sold. In the past, people knew 1 or 2 isolated Mac fanatics. Today happy Mac owners are everywhere - People are influenced by what their friends and family are doing.
8. Support - Mac customers who need help have great options - the Genius Bar (it's still a revolutionary idea - free tech support, in person), Tech support by phone with people who are knowledgeable and have English as their first language and the online community.
9. Increased availability - the growing number of Apple stores, the ever expanding presence in Best Buy, and the existing distribution in local resellers and CompUSA mean Macs are available in more and more locations.
10. Software - there is great software available for the Mac. More and more developers are supporting OS X. Games are coming, too.
These are not necessarily in order of importance.
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Leonard Nimrod said 1:51AM on 8-25-2007
I don't think ALL Apple products will run OS X. There is no reason for the Airport Extreme or iPod Shuffle, or even the Nano, to run OS X.
I do think it's inevitable that the 6G iPod will be a full screen model with a large HDD capacity running OS X and will have the ARM CPU and RAM to make it work smoothly. Their other hardware just can't handle OS X's needs.
This should make selling games on iTunes work seamlessly over iPhone or iPod without having to buy separate ones. The game will merely sense the screen resolution and adapt accordingly or will we be lucky enough to have the exact same display in both devices.
Once again, I see no reason the Nano would--or could--have OS X at this time.
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sal costello said 10:56AM on 8-23-2007
I agree with the article. I have a new imac.
My cap "z" key does not work...does yours?
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h8rain said 11:08AM on 8-23-2007
I agree with Macs being similarly priced. Where I work (which is all Dell), I am programming/maintaining a Access database. Other than that I need nothing that involves PCs. I am giving my newer machine to another employee (who's machine is pretty old), giving my two 19" LCDs to other people who have small old screens, and ordering a 24" iMac. I can use VMWare to run Access, and my email, web browsing, etc will be done in OSX. I will eventually be doing web design (and converting Access to a SQL based program)for us, so I figured since it is so close in price (and looks great), why not have the choice of Windows or OSX. If for some reason VMWare is not working, I can reboot directly into Windows. I am going to even look into developing a OSX version of the software, because both Mac/PC can tap a SQL database.
I am going to love having this choice. Since the price is so close (within the price of Windows), and I get developer's copies of MS OSes, I won't have to pay extra for the Windows function. It just seems like a WIN/WIN situation. NOW, granted if this was a few years ago and Virtual PC was the only way, I would not have even considered this. What is great is my mess of wires (dual monitors, power, ethernet, keyboard mouse) will go down to power and ethernet. :)
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Tim said 11:18AM on 8-23-2007
Maybe someone else has pointed this out, but I have just figured out what is really annoying me about the new iMac.
That black border around the screen makes the iMac look like it has a black eye. What an UNattractive addition.
"OK, who punched Apple in the 'i'?"
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leftnotracks said 12:35PM on 8-23-2007
I think the low market share for mac browsers is a myth. Most of those numbers are based on unit sales, not installed base or how the computers are used because that is hard to measure. Too bad, because it is the only thing worth measuring.
Macs have a longer useful life than PCs. Many people upgrade PCs faster than macs. When they do upgrade, the older mac is still used because it is easily networked and set up, or given to mom. My 9-year-old G3 runs iCab fine.
More macs are on-line than PCs because of their ease of set-up. The average Mac costs more than the average PC, so the average Mac user is more affluent than the average PC user. That affluence means a greater chance on being on-line and a greater chance of a broadband connection.
Macs are popular for home-office use, so they're not only the computer one uses at home, but the work computer, too. While this would apply to any home-office computer, Mac or PC, Macs have a greater chance than PCs.
The average Mac user is more web-savvy than the average PC user. This is partly due to the ease of use of the computer (easier to install software and easier to use it), but also because with a higher financial commitment comes a higher a greater commitment to using and optimizing the computer. We are also more likely to work in the development and creative fields, so we're more likely to use different browsers and web-development programs.
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PSM said 1:07PM on 8-23-2007
It's true, I'm finding more and more Mac users where I don't expect them. It's fun to unexpectedly be in a room where everyone takes their computers out and more than half of them are Macs.
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Peter Payne said 2:01PM on 8-23-2007
@Mitch
Uh, what he said.
(And I still, still do not know why this blog and all other blogs that us that use the same software cannot remember my password)
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Dar said 2:16PM on 8-23-2007
For me, I bought my first MacBook back in Nov. because I was very impressed with my 8GB iPod Nano, and I was so disgusted with the Vista Beta OS I was using (another story altogether). I love my MacBook, and I've bought the AirPort Extreme wireless router (which kicks a**!) and an 80GB video iPod since, while contemplating getting one of the new iMacs later in the year.
So you can count me as one of those buyers introduced to other Apple products via the "halo" effect.
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Greg G said 7:52PM on 8-23-2007
I think that it was the Mac vs PC commercials that really made people think about their computers. The new iMac ad is less Mac vs PC, and more "Holy shit, look how awesome this looks" (unfortunately, it doesn't talk about the power of the iMac surpassing that of many other desktops on the market).
Still, Apple is growing more and more competitive, and more people are considering it a possibility when buying a computer. They do the research, including Macs, and choose the best one, which, more often than not, is a Mac.
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JeffDM said 11:19PM on 8-23-2007
leftnotracks; market share and installed base are two different things. Market share IS worth measuring, because that works into how much money Apple makes on the platform.
As for installed base, I am very skeptical about your claims that there's this huge hidden installed base of Macs. A lot of browser hit stats for web sites often show the browser, OS and architecture for things like . I've never seen any numbers that suggest that there's hidden web useage. Shiira doesn't show up at all. Camino makes up 0.1% of my hits. Firefox is broken down by OS and architecture. They just don't add up to much.
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miguel said 7:09PM on 8-24-2007
did i read it right ......apple has 15% market share ?
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