market share and other assorted ramblings
apple desperately needs market share and they arent going to get it with their current crop of products.
so the question is:do they even care about market share and how do they get it?
i think they have to scrap the current imac and emac.
(hisses,catcalls and screams of heresy from the faithful!)
no really!
when the original imac came out it was a revolutionary product,easy to use,setup,powerful and most of all...cool!
the coolness factor made the original imac a must have item for many.
i ask you:are the current generation of imacs and emacs in that category?
NO!
the original imac was also priced to move also.
the current generation is not.
and although the emacs offer a good amount of bang for the buck their coolness factor is not that high.
what apple needs to do is "think different".
i honestly dont believe they can compete with DELL and all the other big boys in the "bang for your buck" category and frankly...why would they want to?
what apple needs know is a computer or a idevice that runs MAC OSX,that cost under 600 dollars and portable.
this device needs to appeal to students as well as gadgets freaks and non-apple people
it should be a communication device.
something you can surf on the internet with wirelessly with.
maybe a word processor too.
something you can send and receive emails on,be apple to share music with others...wirelessly and chat with ichat av(phone function).
communication IS the killer app!
i believe apple could make money off of such a device by selling "on-going" services.
people in the future are going to want their "desktop" with them at all times.
i believe the future is portable.
bandwith is becoming less and less a concern.
i believe a device that is portable like a laptop but smaller,something you can carry around like an ipod IS THE FUTURE.
many of you will scoff,but i believe if anyone can do it apple can.
i believe that if apple can make such a device the world is theirs.
communication is the key
what do you think?
so the question is:do they even care about market share and how do they get it?
i think they have to scrap the current imac and emac.
(hisses,catcalls and screams of heresy from the faithful!)
no really!
when the original imac came out it was a revolutionary product,easy to use,setup,powerful and most of all...cool!
the coolness factor made the original imac a must have item for many.
i ask you:are the current generation of imacs and emacs in that category?
NO!
the original imac was also priced to move also.
the current generation is not.
and although the emacs offer a good amount of bang for the buck their coolness factor is not that high.
what apple needs to do is "think different".
i honestly dont believe they can compete with DELL and all the other big boys in the "bang for your buck" category and frankly...why would they want to?
what apple needs know is a computer or a idevice that runs MAC OSX,that cost under 600 dollars and portable.
this device needs to appeal to students as well as gadgets freaks and non-apple people
it should be a communication device.
something you can surf on the internet with wirelessly with.
maybe a word processor too.
something you can send and receive emails on,be apple to share music with others...wirelessly and chat with ichat av(phone function).
communication IS the killer app!
i believe apple could make money off of such a device by selling "on-going" services.
people in the future are going to want their "desktop" with them at all times.
i believe the future is portable.
bandwith is becoming less and less a concern.
i believe a device that is portable like a laptop but smaller,something you can carry around like an ipod IS THE FUTURE.
many of you will scoff,but i believe if anyone can do it apple can.
i believe that if apple can make such a device the world is theirs.
communication is the key
what do you think?
Comments
Apple's market share will grow as more and more people start using it thereby making it "safe" to buy a Mac.
It's all about PR (Public Relations) and nothing else.
People buy things that they feel safe with. They will only buy things that feel risky when the cost of 'losing' is low.
This applies to Apple's history and future. In the late 90's, when Apple lost a lot of marketshare, it was because of poor perception ( or maybe not so poor ). Buying a Mac is already risky ( you cant pirate software from work, your neice/nephew isnt a Mac wizard ), but add to the fact that the manufacture looks like its going to go belly up in a year and lots of fence sitters fell the other way ( into wintel ).
The future looks bright now, Apple is really pushing the right buttons in the public mind. OS X has great mindshare, iPod is hot, the brand is the best in the country. This means that people still feel that Apple is risky ( free software, free help ), but those fence sitters who thought Apple was going to go out of business no longer feel that worry. They are going to buy Macs instead of PC's. It is at this point that you start a virtuous circle, as more fence sitters buy Macs, it becomes less risky to those who remain, and they will turn as well.
There are certainly other factors, like price, and software support. But once again, both of these factors will fall prey to the same virtuous circle, making them less of an issue as more people buy in.
Price, products, support, etc., all play an important part. However, I still think the biggest most important barrier is that the average consumer doesn't even consider the Mac as a purchasing choice because everyone they know uses PC's. That's the stinker. But I do agree that this perception is s-l-o-w-l-y changing, specially with Apple finally entering the PC world with iPod and iTMS.
microsoft office
nortons
photoshop
web page software
premiere (or final cut)
etc
All this stuff adds at least $700 onto your purchase. Big barrier considering Apple hardware is a little bit pricier. If you had the software at work you would get over it, if not well you just stay where you are at.
let me explain myself again.
apple should NOT introduce a new low cost computer...after all there are LOTS of low cost computers out there.
remember,there are a lot of people who arent into computers but like gadgets.
what apple needs to do is introduce a gadget that is a portable communication device that uses mac os/x and idisk services.
what is the number one thing people are doing with a computer right now?
email!
it should be able to send and receive email wirelessly.
perhaps some form of ichat av and camera/videoconferencing capability built in.
hmmm?
something you can surf the internet on wirelessly using the mac os/x interface or variant.
apple could make a variant of the mac os/x operating system that is built around these functions and these functions only.
remember iwalk?
something like that is feasible now only better.
this is what apple needs.
the cell phone is already dying.
how many times have you been on the phone with someone and they were describing something you wish you could see?
this is the next step .
think different!
Originally posted by geekmeet
what is the number one thing people are doing with a computer right now?
email!
it should be able to send and receive email wirelessly.
perhaps some form of ichat av and camera/videoconferencing capability built in.
hmmm?
Most people have a PC already and why give up a dedicated emailer in favor of an embedded one?
Sorry, this is wishful thinking imho.
Originally posted by jade
It is far too expensive to switch for lots of people. It's the software: if you are ready, love Apple's OS but to use your new computer you need to get:
microsoft office
nortons
photoshop
web page software
premiere (or final cut)
etc
Unless you're a web/graphics guy, you won't need most of those you listed.
The only one that is necessary to all, is MS Office. Apple needs to come out with a "Office" replacement (rumoured for the longest time) or work a deal with MS, to have it bundled.
I installed this on my PC a few days ago and was disappointed I had to manually install a JDK from Sun. this should have been part of the installer.
At one point, the office suite was the Killer app. That day and age is gone. people need a spreadsheet, and text editor built in. That works, not like textedit. Throw in Keynote (strip out open office presentation tool), sell it for $149.
They need a headless mac cube with 17" widescreen display for the same cost as the current iMac. (or LESS!)
Originally posted by iPeon
Apple's low market share isn't based on their products and or OS, it's based on the simple axiom that people get what everyone one else uses.
True to a degree. However, Apples "low" marketshare is do to Garner/IDC defining the market in a piss-poor way. When they say PC marketshare, they are actually counting servers sold, and large corperate purchases. Why is this a bad thing? Well for one, when a developer wants to look at the "market" to see if his game should go on the Mac, he sees it has only 2% marketshare, and goes the other way. However, what the developer doesn't take into consideration is their product is targed at consumers. Big business purcahses and servers would have no barring on their sales. Hence they need to look at consumer sales.
If a true consumer marketshare figure was put out (and I did the numbers once, using Apples 10ks and others), Apple is really up closer to 7% of the consumer marketspace. Why is this number never quoted or spread. Who knows, maybe too many dumb ass analystst out there?
And just to show I am not talking completly out of my ass, here is the info I had dug up awhile back:
Ok, I have found some numbers:
Consumer Market - 2001 (this is only laptops and desktops, servers aren't counted)
HP - 10.6% of worldwide market
Compaq - 9.1% of worldwide market
Dell - 8.9% of worldwide market
Apple - 7% of worldwide market
Fujitsu Siemens - 6.1% of worldwide market
44.1 million consumer units shipped worldwide (according to IDC)
If you decide to try a similar approach, make sure you don't count overall PC sales. I found lots of figures for overall PC sales (which counted desktops, laptops, and server sales), but that doesn't help in this calculation. The figures above were collected from a few articles, and some SEC 10-K filings. Apple's % was figured from their SEC 10-K filing divided by total consumer units shipped (as listed by IDC).
This estimated market share is at least a better estimate than total PC sales (which counts servers according to dataquest and gartner). So it looks like Apple is fairing a bit better than the often quoted 2%. I am not saying that my findings are 100% correct, but I feel pretty confident in my methods and findings.
Just for comparisons sake, if you look at overall PC sales:
Compaq/HP - 16.2%
Dell - 15.2%
IBM - 6%
NEC - 3.4%
Toshiba - 3.2%
Apple - 2.40%
And we get our nice 2% number. So if you look at the more fitting market share numbers, Apple is fairing pretty well. I just wish developers would look at consumer numbers instead of the other ones...
Also, an interesting find:
Apple units shipped
2002 - 3,101,000
2001 - 3,087,000
2000 - 4,558,000
1999 - 3,448,000
-------------------------
14,194,000 units shipped in 4 years.
It takes effort to make such detailed posts !
Thanks !
corporate buyers always want someone else on the roster for their non-competes.
Apple needs to make another computer manufacturer a daughter company that makes and sells OS X computers. IBM maybe?
Originally posted by satchmo
Unless you're a web/graphics guy, you won't need most of those you listed.
The only one that is necessary to all, is MS Office. Apple needs to come out with a "Office" replacement (rumoured for the longest time) or work a deal with MS, to have it bundled.
Well many people do have this software because they acquired it, and they use it regularly (more than you realize) . Also do not forget to factor in games, print explosion, Nero, maybe a tax or database program. There are a lot of other programs people want or feel like they need. Even if they hardly use them on their pc, they want to option to use them on their new computer.
I really think os x 10.4 needs bundled virtual pc.
Originally posted by jade
Well many people do have this software because they acquired it, and they use it regularly (more than you realize) . Also do not forget to factor in games, print explosion, Nero, maybe a tax or database program. There are a lot of other programs people want or feel like they need. Even if they hardly use them on their pc, they want to option to use them on their new computer.
I really think os x 10.4 needs bundled virtual pc.
There are equivilent tax, database, and burning software for the mac, no need for VirtualPC.
Originally posted by kupan787
There are equivilent tax, database, and burning software for the mac, no need for VirtualPC.
Its not that the software doesnt exist ( well, mostly ), but if you are a PC user in a PC world, exactly which of your friends are you going to pirate all of this mac software off of?
I know that not everyone pirates, but that just ups the barrier, who wants to repurchase $1000's of dollars worth of software?
These factors change as more users get Mac's, the more mac users, the better the chance you know someone with a Mac ( and software ).
It is for this reason that the bundled software that comes with Macs helps overcome this barrier to entry ( for fence sitters ). The fence sitters are often technically savvy users, who can conceive of having two computers, a PC to run all of their 'real' software, and a Mac for iPhoto, iTunes, etc. Once these users get onboard they will discover that they can do most of their work on a Mac, and will accumulate software for it.
The road that Apple is treading is a slow one, that is not dominated by the cost of the individual box ( there are many other costs that turn most users away ). They ARE attracting fence sitters, and those users will snowball the people in their field of influence. In three years ( if Apple maintains it aggresive leadership in cool ) you will see many more people buying Macs. Every PC user who switches now will generate many more switchers in the future, because in a past life they were a PC user, with PC using friends. Those friends now have a source for techincal help, and software, both major barriers to buying a new Mac
Originally posted by kupan787
Apple units shipped
2002 - 3,101,000
2001 - 3,087,000
2000 - 4,558,000
1999 - 3,448,000
-------------------------
14,194,000 units shipped in 4 years.
The interesting thing here is, the high numbers for 1999 and especially 2000. Why? iMac sales. What drove that? Inexpensive! Apple needs to get back to that. Look back to the hey-days, when the Apple IIs sold so well and made Apple stock holders millionaires overnight. Apple IIs were $1200-1400 when IBM PC XT/ATs were $7500. Everyone wants cheap nowadays. Apple needs to understand this and release a cheap computer again. Forget the swing-arm frills of the iMac - they need to redo the iMac to make it a computer for the home user as it once was, and release a cheap "sorta cube" computer with limited expandability for the corporate user. You know, for the vast majority of business people that run email/office/internet apps. BTW, Panther's mail kicks the living shit out of Entourage X. Hands down. They write software a billion times better than Windows trash, and yet no one gets to experience it, because they have to shell out thousands of dollars for a computer when Joe-blow can get a cheap Dell for 499 or whatever the going rate is these days.
Originally posted by Rhumgod
The interesting thing here is, the high numbers for 1999 and especially 2000. Why? iMac sales. What drove that? Inexpensive! Apple needs to get back to that. Look back to the hey-days, when the Apple IIs sold so well and made Apple stock holders millionaires overnight. Apple IIs were $1200-1400 when IBM PC XT/ATs were $7500. Everyone wants cheap nowadays. Apple needs to understand this and release a cheap computer again. Forget the swing-arm frills of the iMac - they need to redo the iMac to make it a computer for the home user as it once was, and release a cheap "sorta cube" computer with limited expandability for the corporate user. You know, for the vast majority of business people that run email/office/internet apps. BTW, Panther's mail kicks the living shit out of Entourage X. Hands down. They write software a billion times better than Windows trash, and yet no one gets to experience it, because they have to shell out thousands of dollars for a computer when Joe-blow can get a cheap Dell for 499 or whatever the going rate is these days.
Not just that, but the US economy was much better in 99/00 (dot com erra).
The eMac is sitting at $799 now, which is pretty good. It is the no-frills iMac. What would you want different?
And from a PR perspective, I don't see it helping.
Considering Apple is the -only- PC company that makes the OS, the hardware, (some) peripherals and (some) software, they do pretty damn well. It's this control that allows them to produce quality products.
I have utterly no desire to see them whore out the hardware to 3rd parties or to jump into the fray by cutting their prices below what makes sense for them just to temporarily gain marketshare.
I don't care if grandmom and some mall rats can't afford Macs. Let them eat cake and buy a cheapo-PC. This is a myth anyway. Macs are priced appropriately. Just because the rest of the PC industry undercuts each other while fighting for markeshare, doesn't mean Macs are overpriced. PC buyers are just spoiled that some companies would rather run themselves into bankruptcy than charge the appropriate value for their products.
There are enough happy Mac users that will keep Apple in business for a lonnng time, marketshare be damned.