Apple establishing iPhone, Leopard 'halos'; gains in small business

[AppleInsider]

Mac sales are accelerating faster than anticipated across the board thanks to the iPhone and Leopard, and could even crack the elusive business market that has remained a Windows sanctuary, according to a pair of new reports.

The greatest immediate increase should come to the home space, says a new ChangeWave study provided to AppleInsider. About a quarter of those looking for computers during the summer months favor Macs versus other brands and could create a "transformation" in marketshare for Apple should the study's claims hold true.

Over the course of the next three months, about 22 percent of those respondents looking for desktops and 28 percent of notebook seekers intend to buy an Apple computer. The jumps represent an extra 4 and 9 percent of the total survey base switching allegiances compared to the March quarter, the analysts say.

Both spikes are the strongest seen by ChangeWave since October 2005 and signal a dramatic change from the past, where increases were typically gradual at best. But this may be the sign of things to come, the report says.

"Clearly, it's that the advance publicity and release of the Apple iPhone is concurrently having a 'Halo Effect' on Apple computer sales," ChangeWave notes.

The survey was conducted in early June, just as Apple's ad campaign for the iPhone shifted into higher gear in anticipation of the June 29th launch. Shoppers interested in Mac OS X Leopard looking to upgrade upon its release were also cited as a possible factor.

A second report, however, indicates that the Mac maker may have already breached the walls of the small to medium business market courtesy of a steadily improving reputation for Mac OS X.

New research obtained from New York City-based AMI Partners points to Apple more than doubling its share of the historically indifferent medium business world in the past year. Use of Mac desktops in the cubicles of mid-sized businesses has reportedly spiked from 13 to 27 percent and has seen a higher-still gain in notebooks, surging from 8 to 18 percent. Small business have also seen healthy gains for desktops (7 to 12 percent) and notebooks (5 to 8 percent), AMI says.



Though the researchers nod towards hardware design as an influence, most of the credit is given to Mac OS X. The release of Tiger in 2005 has reportedly helped Apple gain respect among normally Windows-only firms, with 88 percent of small businesses and 98 percent of medium businesses saying they were considering Macs for their next computers.

Echoing ChangeWave, AMI also projects that Apple may ride a further wave of popularity at the workplace through Mac OS X Leopard, many of whose features will help in smaller businesses. iChat AV and Time Machine have been singled out as particularly useful alternatives for companies that want partial backups and online presentations without resorting to specialized and often costly hardware. This and wider network support could tip the balance, the company says.

"With Mac OS X Leopard launching this coming fall, Apple may well attract a new wave of users," AMI expert Yedda Chew claims. "Especially among Windows PC users that had been taking a wait and see attitude about Mac OS X Tiger."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[BlackSummerNight]

How in tha hell does the iPhone/Lepard help Apple establish gains in any type of small business. Neither are out.

[Bacillus]

The only way they will get a foothold in many businesses is to release a small tower (1000$ - 1200$).

Yes I know - its been discussed just a little on this site; perhaps once or twice.

I think the iMac is the superior design for most applications, but for many IT guys, the idea of a monitor + cheap tower is just too entrenched.

[Porchland]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

How in tha hell does the iPhone/Lepard help Apple establish gains in any type of small business. Neither are out.

98 percent of medium-sized businesses considering Mac? I call bullsh*t.

[Bergermeister]

Hype builds interest. The iPhone is an amazing seeming product (although it will be hampered by the archaic US cel system) that sets new heights in design, form and function. It shows that Apple has the right touch when designing a product, and thus people come over.

---

Apple will not stoop to the level of your average IT guy; they will make what they want to and people will see the light and buy. As suggested, it is happening. The other thing is that Apple sets it sights low, so t is already making its own in-house mark so everythign else is just icing on the cake.

The new Macs run Windoze, so they can have the best of all worlds.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

How in tha hell does the iPhone/Lepard help Apple establish gains in any type of small business. Neither are out.

Publicity. Anticipation.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Porchland

98 percent of medium-sized businesses considering Mac? I call bullsh*t.

No, it's not. They didn't say that Macs would be the only machines they would be buying.

Most medium and large businesses will buy a few new products for evaluation. After several months, or even as long as a year, they will decide if they make sense to them. If so, they will roll out some more.

98% doesn't mean, therefor, that 98% will suddenly switch to Macs.

[aaarrrgggh]

Originally Posted by Bacillus

The only way they will get a foothold in many businesses is to release a small tower (1000$ - 1200$).

My small business will be buying an XServe once Leopard comes out; it's price competitive with Dell and easier to manage than our existing Linux server. On the PC side, 50-60% of our machines are laptops where your point is moot-- there is actually more value in having our people use a Mac there than on the desktop.

With PCs, we can easily work within the costs and features of a Mac Mini or an iMac, although the Mini doesn't currently pose a good value proposition.

If Apple were to axe both the mini and the 17" iMac, it would be difficult to put in a Mac desktop machine. However, the inability to easily add hard drives or PCI cards is no barrier to entry for us. (In fact, the standard firewire really gives us an added benefit over the cheap Dell towers.)

Simplicity and flexibility are the easy ways into any business. Show a lower TCO, and it is a done deal. This is true for companies of all sizes.

(I just want Apple to kick Exchange and RIM's collective butts with the new lineup.)

[AISI]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The release of Tiger in 2005 has reportedly helped Apple gain respect among normally Windows-only firms, with 88 percent of small businesses and 98 percent of medium businesses saying they were considering Macs for their next computers.

Here is AMI Partners' press release.

With this capability [Windows on Intel Macs], Apple has dramatically expanded its opportunity to entice the 88% of small businesses and 98% of medium businesses that currently use Windows XP-based PCs to consider a Mac the next time they purchase a new PC.

It doesn't mean that 88% of small businesses and 98% of medium businesses are or will be considering Macs. Just that 88% of small businesses and 98% of medium businesses currently use Windows XP-based PCs. Apple has expanded its opportunity to entice these businesses, though.

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by AISI

Here is AMI Partners' press release.



It doesn't mean that 88% of small businesses and 98% of medium businesses are or will be considering Macs. Just that 88% of small businesses and 98% of medium businesses currently use Windows XP-based PCs. Apple has expanded its opportunity to entice these businesses, though.

WOW. Good catch AISI (and lousy reporting). We could have argued about the meaning of that 98% for half a day and we would have all been starting from the wrong place...

[CosmoNut]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Apple will not stoop to the level of your average IT guy; they will make what they want to and people will see the light and buy. As suggested, it is happening.

It could happen a lot faster if Apple threw the "average IT guy" a bone with a mid-sized tower that rocks. After enough business has started buying Macs -- and it may take 5 to 10 years to do this -- you work them into the direction you want them to go.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by CosmoNut

It could happen a lot faster if Apple threw the "average IT guy" a bone with a mid-sized tower that rocks. After enough business has started buying Macs -- and it may take 5 to 10 years to do this -- you work them into the direction you want them to go.

Business doesn't want a tower that "rocks". They want a cheap machine that doesn't have even one resistor changed in the machine over the three year purchasing agreement.

When Apple is willing to do that, as every other manufacturer is, then they will sell many more machines to mid and large businesses.

[TBaggins]

Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh

On the PC side, 50-60% of our machines are laptops where your point is moot-- there is actually more value in having our people use a Mac there than on the desktop.

Meanwhile, at the (very) large multinational company I used to work at, we were still mostly desktops, and of those desktops, still mostly towers. The sound department did have a lot of Macs though, but elsewhere, we were still almost exclusively PC, sadly.

Simplicity and flexibility are the easy ways into any business. Show a lower TCO, and it is a done deal. This is true for companies of all sizes.

LOL. No. You're thinking of good, forward-thinking companies.

Where I worked, it was all about this year's fiscal budget. In other words, up-front cost was the only thing they really cared about. Sadly.

.

[TBaggins]

Originally Posted by Bacillus

The only way they will get a foothold in many businesses is to release a small tower (1000$ - 1200$).

It would help some. While a lot of IT guys are becoming more open-minded, and no longer pooh-pooh all-in-ones like the iMac, there's still some out there who just have tower on the brain.

Laptops are starting to become more popular in business, sure, but in the large corporations I've worked at, even recently, we were still heavily desktop. Perhaps large companies tend to be more conservative, I dunno.

.

[CosmoNut]

Originally Posted by melgross

Business doesn't want a tower that "rocks".

I should clarify:

By "rocks," I mean a mid-range tower that does and is everything that the IT guys want but in a pretty package with Mac OS.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by CosmoNut

I should clarify:

By "rocks," I mean a mid-range tower that does and is everything that the IT guys want but in a pretty package with Mac OS.

The rest would still have to be done.

[ajhill]

Wow, Vista sales seem to be lacking...

No, seriously. Even though the XP isn't broken out into XP/Vista I understand that a lot of I.T. departments are requesting new pc be loaded with XP and not Vista. However MS still counts that as a sale for Vista. In fact they probably count the sale as both an XP and Vista sale.

My buddy works for a huge multinational with 1/4 million employees and they are not going near Vista for quite some time.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by ajhill

Wow, Vista sales seem to be lacking...

No, seriously. Even though the XP isn't broken out into XP/Vista I understand that a lot of I.T. departments are requesting new pc be loaded with XP and not Vista. However MS still counts that as a sale for Vista. In fact they probably count the sale as both an XP and Vista sale.

My buddy works for a huge multinational with 1/4 million employees and they are not going near Vista for quite some time.

How do you get that a sale of WP is counted as a sale of Vista. Accounting rules don't allow that.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

How in tha hell does the iPhone/Lepard help Apple establish gains in any type of small business. Neither are out.

Originally Posted by Bacillus

The only way they will get a foothold in many businesses is to release a small tower (1000$ - 1200$).

That's still expensive. I'd say a corporate desktop generally has to come in at around $500-$650 per seat depending on monitors and desktops usually refresh every few years..monitors may be on a longer refresh. I sold 50 HP desktops to a radio station in Hawaii and I was at about $539 after corporate discounting a couple of years ago.

Yes I know - its been discussed just a little on this site; perhaps once or twice.

I think the iMac is the superior design for most applications, but for many IT guys, the idea of a monitor + cheap tower is just too entrenched.

Hell IT guys only get towers because of their ubiquity. If they could put you on a thin client and remove a bunch of stuff (recording stuff) that would make them happy.

Apple will have to target the biz sector with more than just software if they want in. They'll need business level Applecare with SLAs, they'll need a computer that is affordable and easy to swap RAM and storage and they may need a bit more middleware.

I say "go for it"

[Frank777]

Are they seriously telling me that 98% of medium sized businesses are considering the move to a platform that doesn't have a really decent native spreadsheet or CRM application?

IT guys are crazy, but they're not that crazy.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by Frank777

Are they seriously telling me that 98% of medium sized businesses are considering the move to a platform that doesn't have a really decent native spreadsheet or CRM application?

IT guys are crazy, but they're not that crazy.

Agreed

I'd have a hard to even believing that %58 of medium sized biz are considering moving platforms. I've seen a lot of Linux pentration here but Apple is a darkhorse and an unpredicatable one at that.

For instance we don't even know what the status of the Mac mini is or what Apple's plans for a low cost iMac. For many businesses these "shroud of secrecy" is unacceptable.

[lundy]

but for many IT guys, the idea of a monitor + cheap tower is just too entrenched.

There are many IT guys who need to be let go, too. They should install what they are told to install and keep their platform opinions to themselves.

Of course, we all know the real reason that IT guys recommend Windows - the constant babysitting and repairing that it needs is job security for them.

[Keda]

I run a small business. Although we have always used Macs as our main platform, we recently got rid of our PC hardware. A Mac offers more value to us, because we can run a mix of operating systems on a single machine. This is great for firms like ours, because we are limited on physical office space.

Anecdotally, our accountant mentioned that he has had more Mac-based Quickbooks returns this year than ever before. Keep in mind, QB treats Mac users like an ugly stepchild, so if your on QB for Mac...its the Mac not QB that got you there.

Lastly, I have more meetings than I care to mention. In the past, I would run into the guy who was compelled to offer sarcastic comments when I took out me PowerBook. It has been a long time since that happened. Now, I am usually greeted with "ooooo, is that a Mac," followed by a series of questions. It definitely seems like the the willingness for business owners (that I meet) to consider Macs is increasing.

My hope is that this attention from consumers translates to sales....which will turn into better/more development of business apps.