Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware
Apple's small business share continues to grow
I seem to be seeing Macs in small business offices with increasing frequency these days. My dentist uses all Macs, as does the wine shop in town, the photo developing shop, the kennel that watches our dog when we're away and the woman who sells craft supplies. Just a few years ago I'd be shocked to see an iMac running point of sale software. Today, it's much more common.Earlier this week, Needham Co. analyst Charlie Wolf confirmed my suspicions. Specifically, Apple sold 188,000 Macs to small businesses in the September quarter of this year. Compare that to the 61,000 Macs sold to the same group over the summer.
The boost came just as residential sales cooled, which was fortunate for Apple. Of course, internet security and the ability to run the Windows software that these companies depend on are real selling points for many business owners.
[Via AppleInsider]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MJL said 12:18PM on 11-26-2008
Don't expect this to last too long. Apple isnt ready for business still. We have 30 iMacs, 3 xServes and a dozen assorted MacBooks, and not one of them does whats needed of them as easily as a Windows did. We're most likely switching back to Windows Q1-09 and scrapping the hardware (or installing windows on what we have so everything works)
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screech said 12:27PM on 11-26-2008
Ah yes! Since you have a [insert a relatively modest number] of Mac products that don't meet your needs Apple's small business share will most definitley drop. Should I expect the share to change based on your expert info? Oh and I know your an expert because you said business-y things like Q1-09. Idiot. All small businesses have different needs. If Apple wasn't right for you maybe you shouldve thought it through before buying all that equipment. I'll take the 300% growth as an indication their share is going to increase. Thanks though.
Draconix said 12:41PM on 11-26-2008
You can flame me all you want, but that doesnt change the fact that its not ready for prime time yet. It wasnt my decision to go apple in the first place, it was dropped on my lap. now, after 8 months of DNS, DHCP and Mail issues being resolved, its finally stable. However, we're hitting a wall where the applications we need just arent out there. what are we supposed to do? just sit here and let our compitition over run us because they have the tools that our clients like? What you also dont seem to understand is that this is the 3rd iteration of Apple Enterprise to come about, so the numbers are going to be high... until all those other business see that its still the immature path... try doing inventory tracking on more than 1 location... it doesnt work. oyu have to manually create something like a FileMaker database to do such things. About the only worthwhile tool i've found is ARD, and I'm using that alot. but beyond that, its a crap shoot.
You can call me an idiot, you can even call my claims false, but that doesnt distract from the fact that its true. not to mention the fact that it makes you, and a lot of other apple hardcores and even the most basic of apple users, look like idiots yourselves. way to push the sterotype. Its people like you who really piss the rest of the apple community off. No, get off your schools mac lab computer, get back to class, and enjoy your half day.
I thought this blog was for people who admire and use Apple products. I have a MacBook Pro early 08 and it works great. I dont like Leopard, i liked tiger more, but leopard offered so much more. I still use it. I run bootcamp/vista, and to be honest, it has given me far less problems. Also, in business, you can go changing OS's every year, and you can break apps from every .1+ upgrade being made.
screech said 1:07PM on 11-26-2008
Wanna push the stereotype? Mac lab computer, ok. Don't make assumptions about what I'm using or how I'm using it. And before you say, "Dont call me an idiot! You don't know me." stop. You are an idiot, first because of your myopic view of Apple's growth. Second, because your job most not be that hard/important since your posting on here (but keep throwing in technospeak and maybe I'll belive you). Oh and I'm on lunch, on my iPhone. Finally, you were so frustrated that your reply was riddled with mistakes that render many sentences incoherent.
I hope your business fails and you increase the nation's unemployment problem. Happy Thanksgiving!!
Jason Hung said 2:05PM on 11-26-2008
I agree, server isn't ready, but we won't setup a Windows XP/Vista client anymore. We use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to Microsoft Dynamics GP. The only thing we have Windows now is Active Directory, our database server, our Dynamics GP server and our two terminal servers.
Chase said 12:36PM on 11-26-2008
The Threadless store in Chicago was being run on iMacs last year when I went in. I was quite happy. I am sure people just need to make a program to take care of the things people need for business.
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Odineye said 12:57PM on 11-26-2008
My small business is in this category. I started with a Mac Mini and iSight Camera back in 2005 bought to do video chat with another mac user (and for that purpose only - figured I'd give my Mini to my kid when I was done with it), and ended up converting everything to Mac.
In my experience I've been able to find software to do everything I want to do for my business - with one exception - as well or better than what I had on Windows. The exception is finance software, and I use Quicken on Boot Camp, accessed via VMWare Fusion to meet this need.
The reduction in setup times, troubleshooting, search (thank goodness for spotlight), plus myriad options for syncing data across multiple computers are all major advantages for our business. I also find iWork - particularly Pages and Keynote - superior to MS Office for the types of reports and presentations we do. Numbers is on its way, and is good for creation of forms that use tables, but we still use Excel for most data management spreadsheets.
Now we truly are a *small* business - Four computers (two MacBooks, one iMac, and one Mac Mini) - and do consulting work that doesn't require inventory management, so I can't speak to those needs. But I can say that it works well for what we do.
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balls said 2:52PM on 11-26-2008
You in the webcam porn business?
Odineye said 2:58PM on 11-26-2008
I wish!
But sadly, no.
Kevin said 1:01PM on 11-26-2008
Please note that Apple has had a small business department at all of their retail stores for quite a while now where they make it easy for us small business to make the right desicion and they have really helped me get started. At least the business department in my local store knows software to solve the problems I am running into and are totally awesome when it comes to questions and stuff. For me, the biggest part is the face-to-face time, you don't get there elsewhere.
http://www.apple.com/retail/business/
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Jason Hung said 2:02PM on 11-26-2008
Let me chime in on our business use of Apple products. We use almost everything Apple up to the server. Apple's client products are great, and we've not yet had to install anti-virus software and have a common image that we upload to our computers. Software updates are a breeze with ARD. We keep a small Mac Mini to manage user profiles in OS X Server.
We use Microsoft Dynamics GP for our financial/ERP software, so we login through Windows Remote Desktop Connection to our Terminal Server. We use Linux for our Single-Sign On app and other non-Windows tools. I wouldn't recommend using OS X for a server, but for a client setup, Windows RDC/Terminal Server and OS X Client is a match made in heaven.
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