Its funny because you write a lot of words yet say nothing...
You make a ton of statements yet never back anything up with a shred logic or facts.
Apple has consistently gone after market share and has increased their sales. That is great news. I love Apple products and will continue to buy the ones that meet my needs.
But they will continue to come down on their prices and try to combat the image that they are nothing but a high end overpriced computer maker. They have shown this time and time again with their advertising. I will give you this pint though...ready? They are a high end computer maker that has consistently produced great quality products. They are selling a ton of laptops. I bought a new 15 inch MBP unibody this year. LOVE IT!
I am very interested to see what they do on the desktop side on their product offerring.
You can only make a iMac so thin and small with the laptop parts it is made out of. The mini is so over priced for what is inside.
But i am very interested in see which direction they go next week with the product refreshes. Will there be another price drop? Hardware upgrades AND price drops??
Mac Tablet announcement??
Not going to argue with you anymore Quadra 610....you get under my skin becuse you seem like such a Apple fanboy elitism snob..... IMHO
Corporate America looks for the cheapest solutions. Cost-cutting. Cheap boxes to run company software. IT departments depend on this model. Hence, the preference for an ancient, 8-year old OS in the enterprise.
Apple and IT don't mix, and not just because of cost.
To add to your point, Corporate World, not just USA, do not want to spend vast amount of money swapping their present systems. Its called LEGACY and corporate world are well know for staying with better the devil you know.
If you look at start-ups, younger companies, Apple will have a better chance.
most of the profit on a Mac is from the software like Garage Band or iLife. Most businesses don't care about this so they will want a nice discount for not using this software. Apple wants the margins.
the way the corporate market works is you buy PCs or servers on the cheap and then buy a site license from Microsoft. the OEM copy of WIndows doesn't include the server CAL's so you still need a site license. you pay per employee and depending on the tier you paid for, you can install as much servers of that software in the tier and you are covered for all server licenses and CAL's. and since you pay per year you can upgrade as soon as the new version comes out. 2003 - 2008 was a dry spell for a lot of releases, but since 2008 MS is back on it's regular release schedule and even accelerated it with some products like SQL server.
Apple's server hardware is crap compared to HP and Dell
Tell me the truth now, did you and TeckDud both go to the same "special" college?
I think Windows 7 is going to get a good response and slow the tide of switchers. Apple may even lose some premium customers who work in Windows environments.
It's pretty clear that Apple's next announcement is going to be very close to the release date of Se7en. No matter what, the Apple message is going to have to swim through a lot of MS hype just to get noticed.
I wouldn't put it past Steve Jobs to think his new hardware is going to be so amazing that people won't notice the release of an operating system from that other company, but he'd have to pull not only a rabbit, but a horse out of his hat to create that kind of buzz.
Honestly I'm thinking the next iMac is going to be the same letdown that the last one was and if that's the case then I need to have a discussion with my wife about her opposition to hackintosh machines.
A far bigger problem is that Apple barely has penetrated the corporate martket- which in reality is far the biggest "premium" market anyway.
What on earth are you talking about? You're getting your terms all mixed up.
Apple operates in the consumer maarket. Not a small market, LOL. And they have carved out the Premium end. They're not even after the corporate market, and really, why on earth should they be??
Gotta lovet the people that compare OS marketshare to HW sales and truly don?t see the problem with their comparison. For reference, Apple has doubled their Mac sales in 3 years (Q2-2006 1.1M Macs to Q2-2009 2.2M Macs), quarter to quarter. That is pretty damn impressive for any company to do while maintain their current market segment.
As I?ve stated before, I think Apple is saturated and will need to come out with new products that are cheaper. Namely a 13? and 15? MacBook. More unit sales but less gross and net profit per unit.
That makes sense to me..... I think you got a really good point. But they seem to stagnant with their desktop line. But if they relase a Tablet...maybe they are counting on the extra sales to bolster the holiday season for them.
There is a great line in the film 'Devil wears Prada', were the newly hired secretary (forgot actress name) smirks during a photo/fashion review meeting. Meryl's character explains that everything that comes from the high end designers makes it way towards the high street retailers, wether she knows it or not. The high end designers set the trend for fashion.
Gotta lovet the people that compare OS marketshare to HW sales and truly don?t see the problem with their comparison. For reference, Apple has doubled their Mac sales in 3 years (Q2-2006 1.1M Macs to Q2-2009 2.2M Macs), quarter to quarter. That is pretty damn impressive for any company to do while maintain their current market segment.
As I?ve stated before, I think Apple is saturated and will need to come out with new products that are cheaper. Namely a 13? and 15? MacBook. More unit sales but less gross and net profit per unit.
I agree, but Apple must maintain that quality that everyone recognizes Apple products for and support service.
TeckDud, let me explain it to you, going slow and using small words, ok? .... Using the link you provided, M$ has consistently outspent Apple on advertising. The only change is that now they are focussing on TV, rather than print. In other words, they found something else about Apple to copy. Happy?
I agree, but this is not a business site - well, perhaps aside the APPL indicator on the top left. I'll admit, this was a poorly chosen topic to voice this opinion, being about sales and all, but I felt it was an accurate assertion. To accurately discuss the criticisms of Apple's products and how they can improve them, we need to look at things from a consumer's perspective, as Apple, or any other successful company does. As you mentioned, the success of a company rests with the consumer. If Apple were as inward looking as some of their fans, we wouldn't have things like the app-store.
Also, there is plenty of needless bitching by people about products that they have bought on their own volition (shouldn't they have read the box?). On the other hand, you cannot excuse Apple's own deficiencies (lack of Blu-Ray for example) just because "they are not part of Apple's current strategy". That's PR talk.
There are plenty of things I would change in all of Apple?s products to better suit my needs, but that wouldn?t make much sense.
For instance, I want an iPhone and iPods to have no cameras so i don?t potentially get bothered at the gym and concerts. I want my Mac to have a GPS chip so that the browser and widgets can use the geolocation in HTML5 and the GPS API so that I don?t have to put in the location in my laptop to see maps, weather, movies, etc. As it now I grab my iPhone instead as it?s far easier. Most importantly, I want the optical drive removed completely It?s such a huge component that is slow, prone to failure due to moving parts, and it uses a lot of power. Plus, I never use it. I also want the trackpad to be a display so i can see widgets and other info on it and have the backlit keyboard not be so damn sensitive to light. I can go on, but I think you get my point. While I am fairly certain some of these will happen in due time, there is no reason I should expect Apple to bend to my will simply because it is my will. Despite my handle, I?m no solipsist.
I think the chance for Blu-ray has past. They haven?t even added support to the OS so that 3rd-party players can used. You have to run Windows natively to get Blu-ray movies to work. no OS support, no option for the Mac Pro which uses full size drives and no update to their pro software. Also, the players for Mac notebooks which use a 9.5mm slot-loading drive just came out eariler this year. Teckstud stated that Apple doesn?t have to make such thin notebooks or use slot-loading drives. That is true, but the problem is that he isn?t looking at what Apple wants or what the average customer wants, only want he wants. Now that digital media has had a chance to play some catch up I am thinking that Blu-ray OS support will only come to OS X once Apple has a secure market for digital downloads, and may never offer the players in their Macs.
So Apple bought their own chip making company BUT chooses to use Intel chips....why again? To appeal to more mainstream computer buying public to gain market share and to be able to use "Dual Boot" with Windows as a selling point! I don't have the numbers but wonder what the sales figure are for Apple computer before Intel chips and then after Intel chips were introduced.
They are selling a ton more laptops now days but so is everyome else..... that is the trend!
!
First point .... Apple switched to intel before they bought their own chip company. Yes, the move to intel allowed them to go after to PC crowd, among other things, what's wrong with that. There is a difference between switching and copying, is there not?
Secondly, the laptops that are selling in the PC world tend to be netbooks and/or lower price laptops. Apple laptops are more profitable to apple than netbooks are to PC
That makes sense to me..... I think you got a really good point. But they seem to stagnant with their desktop line. But if they relase a Tablet...maybe they are counting on the extra sales to bolster the holiday season for them.
Thanks. Anecdotally, i would agree but that the desktop line seems stagnant. The Mac Pro, Mac Mini and iMac haven?t gotten case changes often and some seem to be forgotten that some thought the Mac Mini would go away. But there are articles that state that Apple?s desktop line is growing faster than the industry and faster than Apple?s notebook line. This may be more of a move to dropping desktop sales in leu of notebook sales, in general, but something is apparently keeping their desktop line popular enough to warrant those stats.
I hit the big 40, 9 years ago and I can honestly say you don't want to keep aging! Nothing good comes from it. Growing sales or grow better processors is good, an aging body sucks!
Dave
I'm hoping that your post was made in humor. I will turn 68 later this year ( hell, I have socks older than you) and I can say, beyond all doubt, that aging sure beats the alternative.
As I?ve stated before, I think Apple is saturated and will need to come out with new products that are cheaper. Namely a 13? and 15? MacBook. More unit sales but less gross and net profit per unit.
The only way to do that is to OWN the whole architecture of the system... Hmm.. Through Patent's, sole-license and maybe hardware design too. Once you do that, you OWN the market.
Thanks. Anecdotally, i would agree but that the desktop line seems stagnant. The Mac Pro, Mac Mini and iMac haven?t gotten case changes often and some seem to be forgotten that some thought the Mac Mini would go away. But there are articles that state that Apple?s desktop line is growing faster than the industry and faster than Apple?s notebook line. This may be more of a move to dropping desktop sales in leu of notebook sales, in general, but something is apparently keeping their desktop line popular enough to warrant those stats.
Where have you seen this data? I haven't seen anything to point to the desktop line growing in sales....... Everything I have seen points to record laptop sales and their desktops were slowing.....
Where have you seen this data? I haven't seen anything to point to the desktop line growing in sales....... Everything I have seen points to record laptop sales and their desktops were slowing.....
The chart in the article can be read either way, depending on where you start counting. Clearly desktop sales have increased some over the last five years, but nowhere close to the rate of laptops.
Comments
........
Its funny because you write a lot of words yet say nothing...
You make a ton of statements yet never back anything up with a shred logic or facts.
Apple has consistently gone after market share and has increased their sales. That is great news. I love Apple products and will continue to buy the ones that meet my needs.
But they will continue to come down on their prices and try to combat the image that they are nothing but a high end overpriced computer maker. They have shown this time and time again with their advertising. I will give you this pint though...ready? They are a high end computer maker that has consistently produced great quality products. They are selling a ton of laptops. I bought a new 15 inch MBP unibody this year. LOVE IT!
I am very interested to see what they do on the desktop side on their product offerring.
You can only make a iMac so thin and small with the laptop parts it is made out of. The mini is so over priced for what is inside.
But i am very interested in see which direction they go next week with the product refreshes. Will there be another price drop? Hardware upgrades AND price drops??
Mac Tablet announcement??
Not going to argue with you anymore Quadra 610....you get under my skin becuse you seem like such a Apple fanboy elitism snob..... IMHO
Completely different market.
Apple specializes in the home/consumer sphere.
Corporate America looks for the cheapest solutions. Cost-cutting. Cheap boxes to run company software. IT departments depend on this model. Hence, the preference for an ancient, 8-year old OS in the enterprise.
Apple and IT don't mix, and not just because of cost.
To add to your point, Corporate World, not just USA, do not want to spend vast amount of money swapping their present systems. Its called LEGACY and corporate world are well know for staying with better the devil you know.
If you look at start-ups, younger companies, Apple will have a better chance.
most of the profit on a Mac is from the software like Garage Band or iLife. Most businesses don't care about this so they will want a nice discount for not using this software. Apple wants the margins.
the way the corporate market works is you buy PCs or servers on the cheap and then buy a site license from Microsoft. the OEM copy of WIndows doesn't include the server CAL's so you still need a site license. you pay per employee and depending on the tier you paid for, you can install as much servers of that software in the tier and you are covered for all server licenses and CAL's. and since you pay per year you can upgrade as soon as the new version comes out. 2003 - 2008 was a dry spell for a lot of releases, but since 2008 MS is back on it's regular release schedule and even accelerated it with some products like SQL server.
Apple's server hardware is crap compared to HP and Dell
Tell me the truth now, did you and TeckDud both go to the same "special" college?
It's pretty clear that Apple's next announcement is going to be very close to the release date of Se7en. No matter what, the Apple message is going to have to swim through a lot of MS hype just to get noticed.
I wouldn't put it past Steve Jobs to think his new hardware is going to be so amazing that people won't notice the release of an operating system from that other company, but he'd have to pull not only a rabbit, but a horse out of his hat to create that kind of buzz.
Honestly I'm thinking the next iMac is going to be the same letdown that the last one was and if that's the case then I need to have a discussion with my wife about her opposition to hackintosh machines.
A far bigger problem is that Apple barely has penetrated the corporate martket- which in reality is far the biggest "premium" market anyway.
What on earth are you talking about? You're getting your terms all mixed up.
Apple operates in the consumer maarket. Not a small market, LOL. And they have carved out the Premium end. They're not even after the corporate market, and really, why on earth should they be??
Gotta lovet the people that compare OS marketshare to HW sales and truly don?t see the problem with their comparison. For reference, Apple has doubled their Mac sales in 3 years (Q2-2006 1.1M Macs to Q2-2009 2.2M Macs), quarter to quarter. That is pretty damn impressive for any company to do while maintain their current market segment.
As I?ve stated before, I think Apple is saturated and will need to come out with new products that are cheaper. Namely a 13? and 15? MacBook. More unit sales but less gross and net profit per unit.
That makes sense to me..... I think you got a really good point. But they seem to stagnant with their desktop line. But if they relase a Tablet...maybe they are counting on the extra sales to bolster the holiday season for them.
........
There is a great line in the film 'Devil wears Prada', were the newly hired secretary (forgot actress name) smirks during a photo/fashion review meeting. Meryl's character explains that everything that comes from the high end designers makes it way towards the high street retailers, wether she knows it or not. The high end designers set the trend for fashion.
Same for the premium computer market.
Gotta lovet the people that compare OS marketshare to HW sales and truly don?t see the problem with their comparison. For reference, Apple has doubled their Mac sales in 3 years (Q2-2006 1.1M Macs to Q2-2009 2.2M Macs), quarter to quarter. That is pretty damn impressive for any company to do while maintain their current market segment.
As I?ve stated before, I think Apple is saturated and will need to come out with new products that are cheaper. Namely a 13? and 15? MacBook. More unit sales but less gross and net profit per unit.
I agree, but Apple must maintain that quality that everyone recognizes Apple products for and support service.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/20...hic_ready.html
For the umpteenth time!!!!!
TeckDud, let me explain it to you, going slow and using small words, ok? .... Using the link you provided, M$ has consistently outspent Apple on advertising. The only change is that now they are focussing on TV, rather than print. In other words, they found something else about Apple to copy. Happy?
I agree, but this is not a business site - well, perhaps aside the APPL indicator on the top left. I'll admit, this was a poorly chosen topic to voice this opinion, being about sales and all, but I felt it was an accurate assertion. To accurately discuss the criticisms of Apple's products and how they can improve them, we need to look at things from a consumer's perspective, as Apple, or any other successful company does. As you mentioned, the success of a company rests with the consumer. If Apple were as inward looking as some of their fans, we wouldn't have things like the app-store.
Also, there is plenty of needless bitching by people about products that they have bought on their own volition (shouldn't they have read the box?). On the other hand, you cannot excuse Apple's own deficiencies (lack of Blu-Ray for example) just because "they are not part of Apple's current strategy". That's PR talk.
There are plenty of things I would change in all of Apple?s products to better suit my needs, but that wouldn?t make much sense.
For instance, I want an iPhone and iPods to have no cameras so i don?t potentially get bothered at the gym and concerts. I want my Mac to have a GPS chip so that the browser and widgets can use the geolocation in HTML5 and the GPS API so that I don?t have to put in the location in my laptop to see maps, weather, movies, etc. As it now I grab my iPhone instead as it?s far easier. Most importantly, I want the optical drive removed completely It?s such a huge component that is slow, prone to failure due to moving parts, and it uses a lot of power. Plus, I never use it. I also want the trackpad to be a display so i can see widgets and other info on it and have the backlit keyboard not be so damn sensitive to light. I can go on, but I think you get my point. While I am fairly certain some of these will happen in due time, there is no reason I should expect Apple to bend to my will simply because it is my will. Despite my handle, I?m no solipsist.
I think the chance for Blu-ray has past. They haven?t even added support to the OS so that 3rd-party players can used. You have to run Windows natively to get Blu-ray movies to work. no OS support, no option for the Mac Pro which uses full size drives and no update to their pro software. Also, the players for Mac notebooks which use a 9.5mm slot-loading drive just came out eariler this year. Teckstud stated that Apple doesn?t have to make such thin notebooks or use slot-loading drives. That is true, but the problem is that he isn?t looking at what Apple wants or what the average customer wants, only want he wants. Now that digital media has had a chance to play some catch up I am thinking that Blu-ray OS support will only come to OS X once Apple has a secure market for digital downloads, and may never offer the players in their Macs.
I agree, but Apple must maintain that quality that everyone recognizes Apple products for and support service.
Some ideas as to how to achieve that?.
? A cheaper case if the Aluminim cases are still too expensive,
? TN displays tend to work fine?especially if they are LED backlit?as most look at resolution anyway.
? Previous generation CPUs that are still faster than the average notebook PC.
You make a good point, going cheap to increase unit sales and profit can hurt you if you ruin the brand name in the process.
So Apple bought their own chip making company BUT chooses to use Intel chips....why again? To appeal to more mainstream computer buying public to gain market share and to be able to use "Dual Boot" with Windows as a selling point! I don't have the numbers but wonder what the sales figure are for Apple computer before Intel chips and then after Intel chips were introduced.
They are selling a ton more laptops now days but so is everyome else..... that is the trend!
!
First point .... Apple switched to intel before they bought their own chip company. Yes, the move to intel allowed them to go after to PC crowd, among other things, what's wrong with that. There is a difference between switching and copying, is there not?
Secondly, the laptops that are selling in the PC world tend to be netbooks and/or lower price laptops. Apple laptops are more profitable to apple than netbooks are to PC
That makes sense to me..... I think you got a really good point. But they seem to stagnant with their desktop line. But if they relase a Tablet...maybe they are counting on the extra sales to bolster the holiday season for them.
Thanks. Anecdotally, i would agree but that the desktop line seems stagnant. The Mac Pro, Mac Mini and iMac haven?t gotten case changes often and some seem to be forgotten that some thought the Mac Mini would go away. But there are articles that state that Apple?s desktop line is growing faster than the industry and faster than Apple?s notebook line. This may be more of a move to dropping desktop sales in leu of notebook sales, in general, but something is apparently keeping their desktop line popular enough to warrant those stats.
I hit the big 40, 9 years ago and I can honestly say you don't want to keep aging! Nothing good comes from it. Growing sales or grow better processors is good, an aging body sucks!
Dave
I'm hoping that your post was made in humor. I will turn 68 later this year ( hell, I have socks older than you) and I can say, beyond all doubt, that aging sure beats the alternative.
As I?ve stated before, I think Apple is saturated and will need to come out with new products that are cheaper. Namely a 13? and 15? MacBook. More unit sales but less gross and net profit per unit.
The only way to do that is to OWN the whole architecture of the system... Hmm.. Through Patent's, sole-license and maybe hardware design too. Once you do that, you OWN the market.
Cat. Out. Of. Bag.
And that's why they continually badger and openly compete with Microsoft?
PUH_LEEZE!
Distortion field alert!
The good news, TeckDud, is that you are in top form today. The bad news is .... that's not saying much.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics!
Don't you mean :Lies, damned lies, and TeckDud"?
Thanks. Anecdotally, i would agree but that the desktop line seems stagnant. The Mac Pro, Mac Mini and iMac haven?t gotten case changes often and some seem to be forgotten that some thought the Mac Mini would go away. But there are articles that state that Apple?s desktop line is growing faster than the industry and faster than Apple?s notebook line. This may be more of a move to dropping desktop sales in leu of notebook sales, in general, but something is apparently keeping their desktop line popular enough to warrant those stats.
Where have you seen this data? I haven't seen anything to point to the desktop line growing in sales....... Everything I have seen points to record laptop sales and their desktops were slowing.....
Where have you seen this data? I haven't seen anything to point to the desktop line growing in sales....... Everything I have seen points to record laptop sales and their desktops were slowing.....
The chart in the article can be read either way, depending on where you start counting. Clearly desktop sales have increased some over the last five years, but nowhere close to the rate of laptops.
How about you stop responding to every comment like a wise-ass. Then, it won't be necessary to annoy you.
You really shouldn't use the word "wise" in any reply to TeckDud ... it just doesn't, I don't know, feel right somehow.