Apple's June quarter strong as consumers switch to Mac for security
For Apple, its June quarter has traditionally been a seasonally slower period, where sales tend to fall off just ahead of the educational buying season. But this year the company's business appears noticeably stronger moving towards summer, due in part to a number of consumers switching to the Mac for improved stability and security.
Studies are showing that consumers are indeed flocking to Macintosh platform these days, but not necessarily due to the much-hyped iPod "halo effect " -- a notion that positive experiences with an iPod are leading consumers to run out and buy a Mac. Instead, an increasing number of studies are showing that most PC users switching to the Mac platform are doing so because they're fed up with the security and stability woes currently plaguing the Wintel platform.
The most recent study comes research and investment firm PiperJaffray, which earlier this week spoke with 20 of Apple's specialist resellers regarding business in the June quarter and trends with various products. On average, Apple specialists said that over 16% of customers who buy a Mac from their stores are PC switchers. In Apple's own retail stores, this figure is closer to 50%.
Several channel partners indicated that they are constantly seeing an increase in the percentage of Mac buyers that are "switchers," the firm said. "There are several reasons that channel partners hear related to why PC users move to Mac, but the key reason is system stability/security." An approximate 70% of Apple specialists in the PiperJaffray study said PC-to-Mac switchers are making the move primarily because of concerns and annoyances related to stability and security of the Wintel platform.
And the majority of those switching to the Mac in recent months are choosing Apple's recently revamped line of iMac G5 all-in-one computers. According to AppleInsider contacts, as well as PiperJaffray checks, the iMac is seeing the highest demand of all Apple CPU-based products. PowerBooks are said to be the next most popular Apple CPU-product, while Power Mac sales remain in the doldrums.
On the subject of software, Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" operating system is making a bit of a splash. Specifically, 60% of Apple specialist stores polled by PiperJaffray believe the launch of Tiger is having a small impact on Mac sales. Another 25% said the launch of Tiger has had no measurable impact, while the remaining 15% claim the new OS has triggered a significant up-tick in Mac sales.
iPod sales remained steady in May, but with Apple improving its production capabilities in recent months, most resellers have witnessed a slowing of demand for the players. Approximately half of the resellers polled by PiperJaffray felt iPod demand remained flat since March, while another 40% believed demand had actually fallen over this time period. Still, the research and investment firm is modeling 5.5 million total iPod shipments during Apple's June quarter, up from the 5.3 million the company shipped last quarter.
Through its checks, PiperJaffray found iPod mini to be the current leader of the iPod family of digital music players. " In our recent conversations with Apple specialist stores, iPod mini was cited as the most popular iPod by 50% of stores in our sample, shuffle and 20GB iPod were pointed to as the highest demanded products at 20% and 15% of stores, respectively," the firm said. It believes continued strength in demand for the mini is an indicator that shuffle sales are not significantly cannibalizing demand for the other products in the iPod family.
While Apple's June results will likely provide only slight upside, PiperJaffray remains bullish on the company given confidence that business will accelerate in the September and December quarters. "Our checks, along with IDC market share changes, suggest the halo effect is real. We believe this trend will allow Apple to continue to gain market share over the next several quarters," the firm said.
Studies are showing that consumers are indeed flocking to Macintosh platform these days, but not necessarily due to the much-hyped iPod "halo effect " -- a notion that positive experiences with an iPod are leading consumers to run out and buy a Mac. Instead, an increasing number of studies are showing that most PC users switching to the Mac platform are doing so because they're fed up with the security and stability woes currently plaguing the Wintel platform.
The most recent study comes research and investment firm PiperJaffray, which earlier this week spoke with 20 of Apple's specialist resellers regarding business in the June quarter and trends with various products. On average, Apple specialists said that over 16% of customers who buy a Mac from their stores are PC switchers. In Apple's own retail stores, this figure is closer to 50%.
Several channel partners indicated that they are constantly seeing an increase in the percentage of Mac buyers that are "switchers," the firm said. "There are several reasons that channel partners hear related to why PC users move to Mac, but the key reason is system stability/security." An approximate 70% of Apple specialists in the PiperJaffray study said PC-to-Mac switchers are making the move primarily because of concerns and annoyances related to stability and security of the Wintel platform.
And the majority of those switching to the Mac in recent months are choosing Apple's recently revamped line of iMac G5 all-in-one computers. According to AppleInsider contacts, as well as PiperJaffray checks, the iMac is seeing the highest demand of all Apple CPU-based products. PowerBooks are said to be the next most popular Apple CPU-product, while Power Mac sales remain in the doldrums.
On the subject of software, Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" operating system is making a bit of a splash. Specifically, 60% of Apple specialist stores polled by PiperJaffray believe the launch of Tiger is having a small impact on Mac sales. Another 25% said the launch of Tiger has had no measurable impact, while the remaining 15% claim the new OS has triggered a significant up-tick in Mac sales.
iPod sales remained steady in May, but with Apple improving its production capabilities in recent months, most resellers have witnessed a slowing of demand for the players. Approximately half of the resellers polled by PiperJaffray felt iPod demand remained flat since March, while another 40% believed demand had actually fallen over this time period. Still, the research and investment firm is modeling 5.5 million total iPod shipments during Apple's June quarter, up from the 5.3 million the company shipped last quarter.
Through its checks, PiperJaffray found iPod mini to be the current leader of the iPod family of digital music players. " In our recent conversations with Apple specialist stores, iPod mini was cited as the most popular iPod by 50% of stores in our sample, shuffle and 20GB iPod were pointed to as the highest demanded products at 20% and 15% of stores, respectively," the firm said. It believes continued strength in demand for the mini is an indicator that shuffle sales are not significantly cannibalizing demand for the other products in the iPod family.
While Apple's June results will likely provide only slight upside, PiperJaffray remains bullish on the company given confidence that business will accelerate in the September and December quarters. "Our checks, along with IDC market share changes, suggest the halo effect is real. We believe this trend will allow Apple to continue to gain market share over the next several quarters," the firm said.
Comments
It's important to note that the iPod has increased awareness of Apple and has therefore influenced switchers. Even if they're not switching because of the iPod directly and it's notorious ease-of-use.
Originally posted by bostongeek
Apple has become so powerful that they have extended the month of June to become a 'Quarter'... All hail the might Apple and their ability modify time itself.
It is not uncommon for corporations to refer to the April - June period as the June quarter.
It is nice to see that people are seeing that using a Mac is "ok" and sometimes, "grrrrrrrreat!"
Originally posted by MacCrazy
It's important to note that the iPod has increased awareness of Apple and has therefore influenced switchers. Even if they're not switching because of the iPod directly and it's notorious ease-of-use.
I really think it has little to do with the iPod. Spyware has become nearly impossible to deal with on Windows XP. It is basically a significant monthly issue for PC owners at this point. I have a system at home that I am going to have to completely reinstall XP on at this point. I just had to clean up issues on my parents' system today because of spyware and they only use it for a few dozen e-mails a month and no web browsing. The systems in our office get infected regularly despite strong security.
I just bought one more PC for our lab (which is mostly Macs) and loathed the whole idea of it. They are so much more of a pain in the butt to keep stable and secure. I've reached the point where I just let them rot, because otherwise, I'd have to be in there checking them for spyware every couple of weeks. I mean I try to configure them the best I can, but if you have multiple users on the system, unless you lock the users out of everything the system is screwed.
If you have a somewhat dated PC and have been dealing with spyware and viruses for the past year while your Mac using buddies keep telling you how great the Mac is, I can guarantee you the iPod has very little to do with it.
Originally posted by pmjoe
If you have a somewhat dated PC and have been dealing with spyware and viruses for the past year while your Mac using buddies keep telling you how great the Mac is, I can guarantee you the iPod has very little to do with it.
I agree - my best friend is switching because she prefers Apple not because of the iPod. BUT the iPod is increasing awareness of Apple - that can't be denied. Even the Intel CEO stated that Macs were a better choice than Wintel if you're looking for a secure solution!
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...e&NewsID=11698
It is a great feeling to know that your production can't be halted because you have to reinstall your OS every month. It is definetly a feeling that Windows users will never understand.
Originally posted by AWILL
With all of this new exposure does this mean that people are going to start writing new virus/spyware stuff to eventually hurt the growing popularity of the Mac?
It is a great feeling to know that your production can't be halted because you have to reinstall your OS every month. It is definetly a feeling that Windows users will never understand.
The problem is Apple have dropped Virus protection from .Mac - I had it to avoid passing on viruses but also to protect me from future Mac viruses.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
The problem is Apple have dropped Virus protection from .Mac - I had it to avoid passing on viruses but also to protect me from future Mac viruses.
What mac virus' were you avoiding to pass on?
Originally posted by AquaMac
What mac virus' were you avoiding to pass on?
PC viruses - I don't want to send people e-mails containing PC viruses so a virus protection makes sure I filter what I'm sending and receiving.
Originally posted by AquaMac
What mac virus' were you avoiding to pass on?
Well, in 2004 (last year) there was a malware/virus called Opener. Then there is the Mac/Cowhand-A trojan.
These are specific to mac OS X. Perhaps it was these two programs he wished to avoid passing on?.
Originally posted by wnurse
Well, in 2004 (last year) there was a malware/virus called Opener. Then there is the Mac/Cowhand-A trojan.
These are specific to mac OS X. Perhaps it was these two programs he wished to avoid passing on?.
Since when was Opener a virus..?
Originally posted by esXXI
Since when was Opener a virus..?
Virus definition is not strict. That is why i have malware/virus. This usually means can be defined as either malware or virus. Opener exhibits some virus tendencies by copying itself to mounted volumes (a primary definition of virus is ability to propagate itself beyond the system it currently infects). This could be a network mounted volume. It also behaves as a malware. So really, whatever definition makes you sleep easier at night is fine with me.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
The problem is Apple have dropped Virus protection from .Mac - I had it to avoid passing on viruses but also to protect me from future Mac viruses.
When did this happen????? I never heard anything about this.
Originally posted by AWILL
With all of this new exposure does this mean that people are going to start writing new virus/spyware stuff to eventually hurt the growing popularity of the Mac?
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think it is a lot harder to write viruses for Macs. First of all. applications generally do not have priviledges to do as they please (as they do on windows). You have to authenticate as an administrator if the application tries to access areas its not supposed to be accessing (i.e. outside its .app structure and its preference files in ~/Library).
Also, the first time an application is ran, you have to "OK" it. I would get suspicious if I were opening what I thought was a text document and Mac OS X asked me if I were sure I wanted to open the application for the first time.
So, its harder to create viruses that open and spread by itself (without the user saying that its OK to, one way or another). In the end though, the computers seurity is only as secure as its user though.
Originally posted by BoeManE
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think it is a lot harder to write viruses for Macs. First of all. applications generally do not have priviledges to do as they please (as they do on windows). You have to authenticate as an administrator if the application tries to access areas its not supposed to be accessing (i.e. outside its .app structure and its preference files in ~/Library).
Also, the first time an application is ran, you have to "OK" it. I would get suspicious if I were opening what I thought was a text document and Mac OS X asked me if I were sure I wanted to open the application for the first time.
So, its harder to create viruses that open and spread by itself (without the user saying that its OK to, one way or another). In the end though, the computers seurity is only as secure as its user though.
You are wrong on almost all points
1. Why would you have to authenticate as an administrator?. How else would you be using your mac?. I'm the only user of my mac and i know whenever i log in, i always log in as administrator. Do you log in differently?
2. Why would you have to OK an app the first time it is run?. Yes, most apps do that but why would a virus writer put that in the app?. Oh no!!, you thought the mac operating system itself was the one that displayed an ok button (hehehehe)... no silly. Most apps do display a window asking if you want to open the app but that is up to the application to obey Mac OS GUI guidelines. It can be bypassed you know.
3. Lets say there is a window that pops up and ask if it is ok to run, so what?. I could create a game with a virus in it. I can get people to willingly download the game (tetris anyone?). I can get people to click the ok button, i can get people to play the game and i can be deleting files while they are playing the game. Gee, people who cannot forsee a mac virus are limited by their imagination.
Now, is it harder to write a truly destructive virus than on windows?. Yes but not for the reasons you cite above. Even administrator does not have all priveleges. To delete all files of a hard drive, a process would have to gain super user priveleges. That is difficult (there are system files that you as an admin would not be able to delete unless you sudo). But strictly speaking, a virus can be created for mac OSX. People have really gotta stop with this urban legend that viruses cannot be created for mac. It is not a lot harder to write a virus for a mac. It is just a lot harder to write a truly destructive virus for the mac. But writing a virus (say, to delete all your email for example) is no harder than creating the same exact virus for a windows computer.
Perhaps you would like me to try?.. i promise there will be no display of a window with "OK" button the first time it is ran and i also promise all you have to do is be logged into your computer. Heck, you can log in as guest if you want to but to make it more realistic, why not log in with your normal user account, you know, the one with administrative privileges. Of course, you would have to agree not to hold me criminally responsible and not to sue me or anything like that. I'm sure we can work out some deal.
Originally posted by wnurse
You are wrong on almost all points
1. Why would you have to authenticate as an administrator?. How else would you be using your mac?. I'm the only user of my mac and i know whenever i log in, i always log in as administrator. Do you log in differently?
I am fairly sure that it is advised to not use your administrator account for everyday use. Why do you need to be logged in as admin everytime you access you computer ? I know this is the standard setup when you install MacOS X, but it really shouldn't be.
Originally posted by wnurse
2. Why would you have to OK an app the first time it is run?. Yes, most apps do that but why would a virus writer put that in the app?. Oh no!!, you thought the mac operating system itself was the one that displayed an ok button (hehehehe)... no silly. Most apps do display a window asking if you want to open the app but that is up to the application to obey Mac OS GUI guidelines. It can be bypassed you know.
I am very sure that this behaviour is enforced by the operating system, and not by the application developers. Having the application developers "conform" to this is just plain silly. There might be ways to get around that dialog, but in my experience since I've installed Tiger every single app that I've used has asked me for permission the first time it is used (except, maybe apple own apps, cant remember). Having read up on this behaviour for the Widget's behaviour with Dashboard, the main applications should be similar.
Originally posted by wnurse
3. Lets say there is a window that pops up and ask if it is ok to run, so what?. I could create a game with a virus in it. I can get people to willingly download the game (tetris anyone?). I can get people to click the ok button, i can get people to play the game and i can be deleting files while they are playing the game. Gee, people who cannot forsee a mac virus are limited by their imagination.
Okay, so you distribute Tetris with a concealed virus. I'm not 100% sure on this but I think it would still be hard to delete stuff off the harddrive. Especially things that are not inside Library or the .app structure of the application.
Originally posted by wnurse
Now, is it harder to write a truly destructive virus than on windows?. Yes but not for the reasons you cite above. Even administrator does not have all priveleges. To delete all files of a hard drive, a process would have to gain super user priveleges. That is difficult (there are system files that you as an admin would not be able to delete unless you sudo). But strictly speaking, a virus can be created for mac OSX. People have really gotta stop with this urban legend that viruses cannot be created for mac. It is not a lot harder to write a virus for a mac. It is just a lot harder to write a truly destructive virus for the mac. But writing a virus (say, to delete all your email for example) is no harder than creating the same exact virus for a windows computer.
This is for the same reasons you should not use your administrator accounts for every day use. The administrator account is for... well.. administrating. There is no problems involved in using a regular user for every day work, and admin acounts for installing and administration your computer.
Originally posted by wnurse
Perhaps you would like me to try?.. i promise there will be no display of a window with "OK" button the first time it is ran and i also promise all you have to do is be logged into your computer. Heck, you can log in as guest if you want to but to make it more realistic, why not log in with your normal user account, you know, the one with administrative privileges. Of course, you would have to agree not to hold me criminally responsible and not to sue me or anything like that. I'm sure we can work out some deal.
There has been a while since I've done any Cocoa programming, so I cant vouch that this isn't possible. I usually do programming in Java, and since java apps are run through the "java launcher" (cant remember the proper name for it), the OS doesn't neccessarily know that I'm running a new app. Same goes for Perl and Mono I suppose.
I think there are exceptions to which applications you will have to agree to launch on the first go, and these being the ones installed as deamons and such in /usr/local/ or similar places.
I'll stop my rant now
Originally posted by wnurse
You are wrong on almost all points
You are wrong on almost all points.
1. Why would you have to authenticate as an administrator?. How else would you be using your mac?. I'm the only user of my mac and i know whenever i log in, i always log in as administrator. Do you log in differently?
It's generally good common sense to not have run your primary account as administrator. However, just because YOU are authenticated, doesn't mean any process/app you launch is. You have to individually authenticate each process in order for it to have root access.
2. Why would you have to OK an app the first time it is run?. Yes, most apps do that but why would a virus writer put that in the app?. Oh no!!, you thought the mac operating system itself was the one that displayed an ok button (hehehehe)... no silly. Most apps do display a window asking if you want to open the app but that is up to the application to obey Mac OS GUI guidelines. It can be bypassed you know.
It's done by the Finder, not the app, silly. It can only be bypassed if you open an app from the terminal, or somehow another app launches it.
3. Lets say there is a window that pops up and ask if it is ok to run, so what?. I could create a game with a virus in it. I can get people to willingly download the game (tetris anyone?). I can get people to click the ok button, i can get people to play the game and i can be deleting files while they are playing the game. Gee, people who cannot forsee a mac virus are limited by their imagination.
No, you'd create a game with malware in it. It wouldn't spread on its own, it would spread when people played your game. Since most people download programs from sites like macupdate.com, which has reviews, your game won't get to far.
Besides, the preferred method for installation on OS X is to drag and drop the app from a .dmg into the Apps folder. If some stupid game asked me for my admin password, I'd be very careful about installing it (alhough yes, most people probably wouldn't flinch).
Now, is it harder to write a truly destructive virus than on windows?. Yes but not for the reasons you cite above. Even administrator does not have all priveleges. To delete all files of a hard drive, a process would have to gain super user priveleges. That is difficult (there are system files that you as an admin would not be able to delete unless you sudo). But strictly speaking, a virus can be created for mac OSX. People have really gotta stop with this urban legend that viruses cannot be created for mac. It is not a lot harder to write a virus for a mac. It is just a lot harder to write a truly destructive virus for the mac. But writing a virus (say, to delete all your email for example) is no harder than creating the same exact virus for a windows computer.
Perhaps you would like me to try?.. i promise there will be no display of a window with "OK" button the first time it is ran and i also promise all you have to do is be logged into your computer. Heck, you can log in as guest if you want to but to make it more realistic, why not log in with your normal user account, you know, the one with administrative privileges. Of course, you would have to agree not to hold me criminally responsible and not to sue me or anything like that. I'm sure we can work out some deal.
You're not the first to have tried. Yes, a virus *could* be created for a Mac. *Can* it is a different story.
The main entry point for viruses on Windows are buffer overflows and dumbass Windows APIs left open. The latter are completely gone on OS X, and because of how the PowerPC architecture lays out memory, the first is much less likely.