Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right. It's 1984 all over again, and they better do some things differently this time around or they will be back to sucking air when the competition finally gets it right. And they will sooner or later.
Also notice how they cleverly omitted that fact that during this past year Windows Vista was the only alternative and that it did "suck", therefore OSX was a viable alternative. It will be a whole new ballgame this year with the advent of the universally critically acclaimed Windows 7.
It will be interesting to see how 7 does. I have to believe Vista has left a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths concerning upgrading to 7. But we shall see.
My brother-in-law is a Windows user and his basic rule is, 'never upgrade the OS. Always wait for the computer to die and then buy a new computer with the new OS already installed.'
Pretty smart but also a little sad.
His HP windows box died after 3 years (pretty good), so he bought an HP laptop. It died in a year. He just replaced it with another HP desktop and bought his daughter a cheap netbook. All from Costco. I said I would give him $300 towards a new MacBook for her. Nope she got a cheap net book! I will keep you posted on how long it lasts!
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right.
The reason for Apple's success over the past decade is because they're NOT doing that.
It will be a whole new ballgame this year with the advent of the universally critically acclaimed Windows 7.
I was at Supercomputing 09 two weeks ago. About 40-50% of attendees (>10,000) who had notebooks had a mac (surpsingly high number of Airs imo). About 25% of the reamining numbers had netbooks (sorry Win 7). The rest were a mix of Dells and old IBM laptops. Saw MUCH more people in XP than Vista. Only saw one poor soul with 7 and when he tried to present, the cpu recognized the projector and tried to auto resize his presentation but had half of it offscreen... He had to go into edit mode and maximize it and get rid of the ribbon, all in front of 300 waiting eyes.
This is a super tech savy and affluent crowd and they seemed to have no interest in 7.
Happily typing away at new iMac i7. Not the iPhone halo effect but the joyous Mac continual halo of fun super efficiency. This computer is so fast, clear, zippy, stunning, pure thrill. Magic mouse wonderful.
Do love the direct finger swishing contact of iPhone. But for serious Net cruising and productive work, this iMac i7 takes the cake.
The abundant software is awesome; the tutorials very helpful and easy; Apple support tremendous. The experience is all marvelous creative juices overflowing.
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right. It's 1984 all over again, and they better do some things differently this time around or they will be back to sucking air when the competition finally gets it right. And they will sooner or later.
Perhaps. But how long has iLife been out and I don't see anything comparable on the Windows side. Does the Zune have it right? I don't think so. Is the Droid a good phone, maybe. But it certainly has a long way to go to have anything close to the Apple's 'eco-system' with photos, music, video with the iPhone, desktop, iLife, AppleTV. The 'Halo-effect' this article is talking about is almost a 'life-style' choice way beyond just technology. As a previous poster stated, Apple's Halo effect is their products just work!
Anyway, you make good points, Apple should always be looking for new markets to exploit but not sacrifice Margins for Market share!
sooner or later (after Ballmer), the other competitors will start getting their act together. You can see the players lining up against apple with the Droid. all these different models, and then there's RIM. These people are not going to sit still while apple eats their lunch, (although MS just sits there and vibrates creating more heat than light.) But to say we're making tons of money so we must have the formula for success is short sighted. Yes, they developed the eco-system for the iPhone, and some great software for computers. But when my daughter, who has used a Mac for the last 10 years asks for a cheap PC with 7, because she can't afford a mac, you're leaving the masses behind. There's a huge market for a lower cost computer, and by ignoring it, apple leaves the door open for the competition. And if she has to buy another one in a year because this one fails, so what, she can buy two for the price of one apple. I'm an apple fanboy, but they need to address their market share. they are leaving a lot of room between their entry level computer and where PCs come in. if they would close that gap, maybe with the new tablet(w/ integrated iphone), it would create a longer term success.
It is only one of the reasons, significant mind you, but along with those you listed and a number of others as well.
Well, it's kind of implied in the article that it's the predominant reason for the recent success of the Mac, and it's the only reason acknowledged in the article.
Business and government have had less money to spend, hence the drop there. Apple will never be able to capture the cost-obsessed, as TCO arguments will favor cloud services over the traditional desktop/server where Apple had a chance.
Curious how Apple is fairing with mindshare in publishing (no money to spend) and media.
The new iMac is a fantastic computer and Apple should do very well with them this season. I just wish they had a keyboard offering like the MBP with large multi-touch trackpad. That is what keeps me on the sidelines.
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right. It's 1984 all over again, and they better do some things differently this time around or they will be back to sucking air when the competition finally gets it right. And they will sooner or later.
You guys do not get it, it not about world domination, apple has never been about that, they are about providing a better product and creating value not about creating the cheapest product and putting in everyone's hands. The investment world may not like this because they can not understand how you make more more money without selling more product to more people. Apple is targeting the right people, those who understand value and have disposable income, this is what they did not suffer during this down turn, their target custom is not worried about how to pay the bills this month. This is what the PC guys are hurting, their market is too worried about if they have enough money in the checking account.
Once the Mac reaches 25% worldwide market share, Windows will be history in three years. The horrible Windows user experience is only maintained by inertia and ignorance.
Apple's stratagem of only targeting the rich niche consumer is seriously flawed.
Sure they are making a profit, I can make a profit selling lemonade in front of my house, but it's not going to "change the world" for the better and vulnerable to changes in the larger market.
For instance any crap change on the PC side is reflected on the Mac side, because Apple can't compete unless it uses commodity PC parts.
The economy is going to deal Apple a serious blow in the consumer market for the next several years and with virtually no footprint in other markets to compensate, we are looking a implosion here if Steve passes away.
Apple is going to wish it hedged itself and paid more attention to business and government sales, which can sign off on hundreds of thousands of computers with a single pen stroke.
Do you really think these businesses and governments want the headaches and billions of dollars of data loss using Windows?
I'm glad I didn't go to you for investment advice 6 years ago when I bought Apple stock. You take the prize for being the most wrong person on this or any other board.
But maybe you're right this time - Apple is doomed!
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right. It's 1984 all over again, and they better do some things differently this time around or they will be back to sucking air when the competition finally gets it right. And they will sooner or later.
Wow, I sure am glad that YOU'RE not running Apple. You have no idea about Apple's historical mistakes, and you have no idea why Apple is not making those same mistakes this time around. You have no idea why the Droid will never catch up to the iPhone. And what laptop is your daughter going to buy in a year if all those cheap PC-box assembler companies are out of business because of their razor-thin margins? A good place for you to START getting educated would be reading roughlydrafted.com on a regular basis. And maybe you should teach your daughter the value of "you get what you pay for" and supporting companies that actually make valuable worthwhile products that benefit the consumer (and benefit the environment, too).
1) alot of those websites deal with the iphone/smartphone section
2) alot of those websites are fan sites, so they will always be pro-apple as opposed to neutral (or as close as you can get)
i never said people arent satisfied with their macs, i said they just dont always work like everyone is brainwashed to think. its a piece of tech. there are going to be bugs, there will be system crashes, there will be driver issues, there will be PEBCAK errors.
sooner or later (after Ballmer), the other competitors will start getting their act together. You can see the players lining up against apple with the Droid. all these different models, and then there's RIM. These people are not going to sit still while apple eats their lunch, (although MS just sits there and vibrates creating more heat than light.) But to say we're making tons of money so we must have the formula for success is short sighted. Yes, they developed the eco-system for the iPhone, and some great software for computers. But when my daughter, who has used a Mac for the last 10 years asks for a cheap PC with 7, because she can't afford a mac, you're leaving the masses behind. There's a huge market for a lower cost computer, and by ignoring it, apple leaves the door open for the competition. And if she has to buy another one in a year because this one fails, so what, she can buy two for the price of one apple. I'm an apple fanboy, but they need to address their market share. they are leaving a lot of room between their entry level computer and where PCs come in. if they would close that gap, maybe with the new tablet(w/ integrated iphone), it would create a longer term success.
apple doesn't care about the low end because that market is being taken by Acer, Asus and other Chinese companies who don't mind the low margins. the losers are dell and HP because they used to rule the middle tier of the market which is being destroyed as lower end machines become more powerful and computers last longer and longer.
HP and Dell bought some high end PC makers but it seems to have been a huge mistake in the execution of the merger. now alienware is just another dell.
as industries mature they become vertically integrated. Apple seems to be ahead of the curve on this. people don't care about tinkering anymore, they want a machine that will most likely work, no crapware, and support people that speak english.
unfortunately, thats not true. kernel panics are fun i hear. if they just worked, there wouldnt be places like macfixit.
please dont post crap like that.
Yes, Kernel panics are great fun. Except that I've been using Macs nearly every day for the last 15 years and I think I haven't had a single kernel panic since I used a bad USB stick about 3 years ago.
They just work for 99.9% of users. The other 0.1% benefit from places like MacFixit.
Apple's stratagem of only targeting the rich niche consumer is seriously flawed.
So flawed that they take the lion?s share of the retail market in revenue and profit.
Quote:
it's not going to "change the world" for the better and vulnerable to changes in the larger market.
Apple has changed the world of the PC more than Dell or HP?s PC departments have.
Quote:
Apple can't compete unless it uses commodity PC parts.
This foolish hyperbole really needs to stop. Moving to Intel CPUs did not make every other aspect of the Mac a commodity, off-the-shelf component. The only reason that Windows didn?t work on PPC is because MS didn?t compile for them. But wait, they eventually did, with the Xbox and Xbox 360, but that is a closed system now, isn?t it.
Quote:
The economy is going to deal Apple a serious blow in the consumer market for the next several years and with virtually no footprint in other markets to compensate, we are looking a implosion here if Steve passes away.
You mean like what didn?t happen this past year when Steve stepped down for 6 months while the economy was in shambles yet Apple broke record sales again and again. People with money tend to have it for being intelligent with their investments not because they live they week-toweek year-after-year and think that less money up front for $400 PC that has to be replaced every year has a TCO lower than a Mac.
Quote:
Apple is going to wish it hedged itself and paid more attention to business and goverment sales, which can sign off on hundreds of thousands of computers with a single pen stroke.
How many times do we have to go over the different markets these companies are in. Apple can never do well in gov?t or enterprise when they are the only the supplier of Mac OS X. Macs are mainly for consumers. If Apple didn?t license their OS 12 years ago when they were down to a 5B market cap why do you think they would now when they are poised to over take MS as the largest tech company in the US in a handful of quarters?
Quote:
Do you really think these businesses and governments want the headaches and billions of dollars of data loss using Windows?
Then they need to backup. Data loss can occur on any OS. Windows is well designed for the market they want to compete in. Unless Apple is willing to drop the Mac platform, license their OS and then support legacy code and aging HW for a very long time then Apple can never enter the Entrerprise. MS and Apple use two very different business models. One sells an OS, the other makes an OS to sell their PCs. Don?t make them out to be one and the same!
Quote:
Originally Posted by christopher126
'Halo effect' is a nice way of saying 'blood-bath.' This is how some of Apple's competitors view it!
The iPhone gets the pat of the back these days and the iPod got it before, but the real ?Halo effect? seems to be from the Apple Stores and maybe even the increased user base. People can finally play with and test a Mac for the first time with internet access at their local store. There is also something to be said for the switch to Intel which allows for a user to not have to give up Windows if they so desire.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zunx
Once the Mac reaches 25% worldwide market share, Windows will be history in three years. The horrible Windows user experience is only maintained by inertia and ignorance.
I don?t see how that could happen. That is over 5x their current size in a worldwide market share of ever growing PC sales. Even at 25% that is Apple matching HP?s market share but taking about 70% of the total revenue for the world?s PC market. It?s just going to happen.
On top that, you can?t get rid of Windows by selling high-end products. That is not how markets work. For Windows to be hurt it will be an OS, like Chrome OS, that is free and will run on even cheaper HW than most Windows PCs. I think we?ll see see Chrome OS at the low-end, Windows in the middle and still maintaining their enterprise business, and Mac OS X for the higher-end retail.
Comments
Also notice how they cleverly omitted that fact that during this past year Windows Vista was the only alternative and that it did "suck", therefore OSX was a viable alternative. It will be a whole new ballgame this year with the advent of the universally critically acclaimed Windows 7.
It will be interesting to see how 7 does. I have to believe Vista has left a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths concerning upgrading to 7. But we shall see.
My brother-in-law is a Windows user and his basic rule is, 'never upgrade the OS. Always wait for the computer to die and then buy a new computer with the new OS already installed.'
Pretty smart but also a little sad.
His HP windows box died after 3 years (pretty good), so he bought an HP laptop. It died in a year. He just replaced it with another HP desktop and bought his daughter a cheap netbook. All from Costco. I said I would give him $300 towards a new MacBook for her. Nope she got a cheap net book! I will keep you posted on how long it lasts!
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right.
The reason for Apple's success over the past decade is because they're NOT doing that.
It will be a whole new ballgame this year with the advent of the universally critically acclaimed Windows 7.
I was at Supercomputing 09 two weeks ago. About 40-50% of attendees (>10,000) who had notebooks had a mac (surpsingly high number of Airs imo). About 25% of the reamining numbers had netbooks (sorry Win 7). The rest were a mix of Dells and old IBM laptops. Saw MUCH more people in XP than Vista. Only saw one poor soul with 7 and when he tried to present, the cpu recognized the projector and tried to auto resize his presentation but had half of it offscreen... He had to go into edit mode and maximize it and get rid of the ribbon, all in front of 300 waiting eyes.
This is a super tech savy and affluent crowd and they seemed to have no interest in 7.
Do love the direct finger swishing contact of iPhone. But for serious Net cruising and productive work, this iMac i7 takes the cake.
The abundant software is awesome; the tutorials very helpful and easy; Apple support tremendous. The experience is all marvelous creative juices overflowing.
Worth every penny.
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right. It's 1984 all over again, and they better do some things differently this time around or they will be back to sucking air when the competition finally gets it right. And they will sooner or later.
Perhaps. But how long has iLife been out and I don't see anything comparable on the Windows side. Does the Zune have it right? I don't think so. Is the Droid a good phone, maybe. But it certainly has a long way to go to have anything close to the Apple's 'eco-system' with photos, music, video with the iPhone, desktop, iLife, AppleTV. The 'Halo-effect' this article is talking about is almost a 'life-style' choice way beyond just technology. As a previous poster stated, Apple's Halo effect is their products just work!
Anyway, you make good points, Apple should always be looking for new markets to exploit but not sacrifice Margins for Market share!
Nowhere in the report does it say it is.
It is only one of the reasons, significant mind you, but along with those you listed and a number of others as well.
Well, it's kind of implied in the article that it's the predominant reason for the recent success of the Mac, and it's the only reason acknowledged in the article.
Curious how Apple is fairing with mindshare in publishing (no money to spend) and media.
The new iMac is a fantastic computer and Apple should do very well with them this season. I just wish they had a keyboard offering like the MBP with large multi-touch trackpad. That is what keeps me on the sidelines.
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right. It's 1984 all over again, and they better do some things differently this time around or they will be back to sucking air when the competition finally gets it right. And they will sooner or later.
You guys do not get it, it not about world domination, apple has never been about that, they are about providing a better product and creating value not about creating the cheapest product and putting in everyone's hands. The investment world may not like this because they can not understand how you make more more money without selling more product to more people. Apple is targeting the right people, those who understand value and have disposable income, this is what they did not suffer during this down turn, their target custom is not worried about how to pay the bills this month. This is what the PC guys are hurting, their market is too worried about if they have enough money in the checking account.
Mac's just work and that is the halo generator.
unfortunately, thats not true. kernel panics are fun i hear. if they just worked, there wouldnt be places like macfixit.
please dont post crap like that.
unfortunately, thats not true. kernel panics are fun i hear. if they just worked, there wouldnt be places like macfixit.
please dont post crap like that.
Whatever it is, it's working.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10019711-37.html
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...g-industry.ars
http://digg.com/apple/Apple_leads_20...faction_survey
http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/08/....no..1.on.csi/
http://theappleblog.com/2009/05/06/a...he-experience/
http://blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2007/...s-customerbase
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...stomer_sa.html
http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-posts...ion-index/2553
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/we...omments/22467/
http://bindapple.com/apple-satisfaction-2009-report/
http://www.macnn.com/news/25971
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/14/...action-survey/
http://www.ipodobserver.com/ipo/arti...ff_The_Charts/
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/08...-satisfaction/
http://www.mactivist.com/2009/06/iph...kings-in-japan
http://www.9to5mac.com/jobs-satisfation-rate-high
http://www.jdpower.com/Business/rati...tphone-ratings
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2248040/...ps-top-billing
http://www.eweek.com/prestitial.php?...453807%2F&ref=
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2352796,00.asp
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2006/08/5002.ars
http://www.osnews.com/story/15553
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1689554/posts
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/.../t-224872.html
Apple's stratagem of only targeting the rich niche consumer is seriously flawed.
Sure they are making a profit, I can make a profit selling lemonade in front of my house, but it's not going to "change the world" for the better and vulnerable to changes in the larger market.
For instance any crap change on the PC side is reflected on the Mac side, because Apple can't compete unless it uses commodity PC parts.
The economy is going to deal Apple a serious blow in the consumer market for the next several years and with virtually no footprint in other markets to compensate, we are looking a implosion here if Steve passes away.
Apple is going to wish it hedged itself and paid more attention to business and government sales, which can sign off on hundreds of thousands of computers with a single pen stroke.
Do you really think these businesses and governments want the headaches and billions of dollars of data loss using Windows?
I'm glad I didn't go to you for investment advice 6 years ago when I bought Apple stock. You take the prize for being the most wrong person on this or any other board.
But maybe you're right this time - Apple is doomed!
Apple needs to focus on other markets than the high end computers, and one size fits all iPhone. They need to grab as much market share as possible while their brand is hot, or the droid phones will evenually catch up, and become cheaper to use. Just like windows 7, Ok, it will take another 4-5 years, but the low end will be back and with a product that is good enough to create serious value. Plus, one phone design for everyone? get real, people want choice. It will take a lot more effort to develop their server OS, and integrate it with their iPhone, but they certainly need to develop a new attitude than we're making so much money, we must be right. It's 1984 all over again, and they better do some things differently this time around or they will be back to sucking air when the competition finally gets it right. And they will sooner or later.
Wow, I sure am glad that YOU'RE not running Apple. You have no idea about Apple's historical mistakes, and you have no idea why Apple is not making those same mistakes this time around. You have no idea why the Droid will never catch up to the iPhone. And what laptop is your daughter going to buy in a year if all those cheap PC-box assembler companies are out of business because of their razor-thin margins? A good place for you to START getting educated would be reading roughlydrafted.com on a regular basis. And maybe you should teach your daughter the value of "you get what you pay for" and supporting companies that actually make valuable worthwhile products that benefit the consumer (and benefit the environment, too).
Whatever it is, it's working.
[so many links that dont matter]
1) alot of those websites deal with the iphone/smartphone section
2) alot of those websites are fan sites, so they will always be pro-apple as opposed to neutral (or as close as you can get)
i never said people arent satisfied with their macs, i said they just dont always work like everyone is brainwashed to think. its a piece of tech. there are going to be bugs, there will be system crashes, there will be driver issues, there will be PEBCAK errors.
sooner or later (after Ballmer), the other competitors will start getting their act together. You can see the players lining up against apple with the Droid. all these different models, and then there's RIM. These people are not going to sit still while apple eats their lunch, (although MS just sits there and vibrates creating more heat than light.) But to say we're making tons of money so we must have the formula for success is short sighted. Yes, they developed the eco-system for the iPhone, and some great software for computers. But when my daughter, who has used a Mac for the last 10 years asks for a cheap PC with 7, because she can't afford a mac, you're leaving the masses behind. There's a huge market for a lower cost computer, and by ignoring it, apple leaves the door open for the competition. And if she has to buy another one in a year because this one fails, so what, she can buy two for the price of one apple. I'm an apple fanboy, but they need to address their market share. they are leaving a lot of room between their entry level computer and where PCs come in. if they would close that gap, maybe with the new tablet(w/ integrated iphone), it would create a longer term success.
apple doesn't care about the low end because that market is being taken by Acer, Asus and other Chinese companies who don't mind the low margins. the losers are dell and HP because they used to rule the middle tier of the market which is being destroyed as lower end machines become more powerful and computers last longer and longer.
HP and Dell bought some high end PC makers but it seems to have been a huge mistake in the execution of the merger. now alienware is just another dell.
as industries mature they become vertically integrated. Apple seems to be ahead of the curve on this. people don't care about tinkering anymore, they want a machine that will most likely work, no crapware, and support people that speak english.
unfortunately, thats not true. kernel panics are fun i hear. if they just worked, there wouldnt be places like macfixit.
please dont post crap like that.
Yes, Kernel panics are great fun. Except that I've been using Macs nearly every day for the last 15 years and I think I haven't had a single kernel panic since I used a bad USB stick about 3 years ago.
They just work for 99.9% of users. The other 0.1% benefit from places like MacFixit.
Apple's stratagem of only targeting the rich niche consumer is seriously flawed.
So flawed that they take the lion?s share of the retail market in revenue and profit.
it's not going to "change the world" for the better and vulnerable to changes in the larger market.
Apple has changed the world of the PC more than Dell or HP?s PC departments have.
Apple can't compete unless it uses commodity PC parts.
This foolish hyperbole really needs to stop. Moving to Intel CPUs did not make every other aspect of the Mac a commodity, off-the-shelf component. The only reason that Windows didn?t work on PPC is because MS didn?t compile for them. But wait, they eventually did, with the Xbox and Xbox 360, but that is a closed system now, isn?t it.
The economy is going to deal Apple a serious blow in the consumer market for the next several years and with virtually no footprint in other markets to compensate, we are looking a implosion here if Steve passes away.
You mean like what didn?t happen this past year when Steve stepped down for 6 months while the economy was in shambles yet Apple broke record sales again and again. People with money tend to have it for being intelligent with their investments not because they live they week-toweek year-after-year and think that less money up front for $400 PC that has to be replaced every year has a TCO lower than a Mac.
Apple is going to wish it hedged itself and paid more attention to business and goverment sales, which can sign off on hundreds of thousands of computers with a single pen stroke.
How many times do we have to go over the different markets these companies are in. Apple can never do well in gov?t or enterprise when they are the only the supplier of Mac OS X. Macs are mainly for consumers. If Apple didn?t license their OS 12 years ago when they were down to a 5B market cap why do you think they would now when they are poised to over take MS as the largest tech company in the US in a handful of quarters?
Do you really think these businesses and governments want the headaches and billions of dollars of data loss using Windows?
Then they need to backup. Data loss can occur on any OS. Windows is well designed for the market they want to compete in. Unless Apple is willing to drop the Mac platform, license their OS and then support legacy code and aging HW for a very long time then Apple can never enter the Entrerprise. MS and Apple use two very different business models. One sells an OS, the other makes an OS to sell their PCs. Don?t make them out to be one and the same!
'Halo effect' is a nice way of saying 'blood-bath.' This is how some of Apple's competitors view it!
The iPhone gets the pat of the back these days and the iPod got it before, but the real ?Halo effect? seems to be from the Apple Stores and maybe even the increased user base. People can finally play with and test a Mac for the first time with internet access at their local store. There is also something to be said for the switch to Intel which allows for a user to not have to give up Windows if they so desire.
Once the Mac reaches 25% worldwide market share, Windows will be history in three years. The horrible Windows user experience is only maintained by inertia and ignorance.
I don?t see how that could happen. That is over 5x their current size in a worldwide market share of ever growing PC sales. Even at 25% that is Apple matching HP?s market share but taking about 70% of the total revenue for the world?s PC market. It?s just going to happen.
On top that, you can?t get rid of Windows by selling high-end products. That is not how markets work. For Windows to be hurt it will be an OS, like Chrome OS, that is free and will run on even cheaper HW than most Windows PCs. I think we?ll see see Chrome OS at the low-end, Windows in the middle and still maintaining their enterprise business, and Mac OS X for the higher-end retail.
So flawed that they take the lion?s share of the retail market in revenue and profit.
More like so overpriced and great marketing.