Mac taking over the computer industry?

Hey I don't know if there's been threads on this but, do you guys think that Mac will soon become the leader in the computer industry?

audiofader said:

Hey I don't know if there's been threads on this but, do you guys think that Mac will soon become the leader in the computer industry?

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Leader of what? Hardware, software, MP3 players, Phones?

At the present time Apple has but a very slim market share. In the USA alone the general consensus is they have only 8% share of all "personal computers". In the business and government sectors, where the real money is, where computers truly run our world, Apple is something people have for lunch or a snack.
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So _no_ Apple is _not_ about to take over. Its time to accept that we live in a high functioning Windows World where the platform is only getting better. On the desktop, Windows 7 is proving to be outstanding and the proof is in the sales numbers. Last month Windows 7 handily outsold Snow Leopard by a good margin. Especially when one consider that people were happy to pay over $200 minimum for Windows 7, when Snow Leopard was only $29 and available everywhere.
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I use a ThinkPad with Windows 7 _and_ a new 15" MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard. I like them both. They are the latest and greatest each company has to offer. You can't go wrong buying either. Where it was once true that a Mac was so much easier & stable. That has now become a much over hyped myth from the old days. That's why the people in the know, laugh at the stupid outdated Mac commercials.
Personally, I prefer my MacBook Pro as my personal machine, but it's just that... A personal choice. At work I've not had a single crash or any problems for the last five years on my windows laptop. Properly setup they are great. If that was not the truth then Macs _would_ be everywhere in the business sector.

I honestly doubt it - not unless Microsoft makes such a colossal screw up that causes a huge flood to other OS'.

Plus Apple still will have a hard time winning over a lot of the younger generation with the lack of new titles that everyone wants for games on the pc (ie: Modern Warfare 2, Mass Effect 2, Warhammer 40,000, etc.) - the argument that Mac has many games is true, but it takes quite a while for most Mac ports to come about and many of those ports are not the best done (ie: on my Mac Pro, if I play COD4, I get 1/2 if not less fps then I do playing the game in windows on the same hardware through bootcamp). To win teenagers (which is really needed to get a mass shift as they are the ones that will push parents IMHO) you need to give them a reason to make the shift and for a lot of them, that means games - and of course, we live in a gotta-have-it-now thinking society so they want the games now, not 3 months to 2 years later - and they are fixated on performance of said games - more fps, higher rez, better effects, etc. Steve Jobs may believe everyone should just play games on an iPod, but his reality on that front is quite different from what the market place shows.

Either that, or Apple will have to enter into the console foray again ( see: Apple Bandai Pippin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) to try to win over the gaming population and then try to move computers into a different market segment (which I hope not honestly, as I love gaming, but I hate certain games on consoles).

Plus there is still the age old stigma of Apple computers being for those "creative types" and more toys then useable machines. It takes quite a bit to break that thought process.

wirelessmacuser said:

So _no_ Apple is _not_ about to take over. Its time to accept that we live in a high functioning Windows World where the platform is only getting better. On the desktop, Windows 7 is proving to be outstanding and the proof is in the sales numbers. Last month Windows 7 handily outsold Snow Leopard by a good margin. Especially when one consider that people were happy to pay over $200 minimum for Windows 7, when Snow Leopard was only $29 and available everywhere.

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WMU, I have to point out, the reason Win 7 is outstanding, is the debacle of Vista. Now, granted, everyone complains of change, XP to what ever and Tiger to Leopard and so on; however, the Vista OS is bloated, chews up FAR to many resources etc...(this is NOT a Mac v. PC debate BTW for those looking for one). So the switch to Win 7 was indeed a welcomed one, however the sales figures are outstanding because everyone wanted the PC's to work, and work somewhat like their old XP machines used to. What burns be up is, Win 7 is what Vista SHOULD HAVE been. And for me to fix my Vista machine, I had to pay $200.00.

So the increase and record sales is a bit of a misnomer when you consider the reason why, because the existing market share wanted to fix their computers, me included. So, Win 7 should have been $29.00, and offered with an apology for Vista. Now this is based on other IT/Forensic/Systems engineers I drink beer with, I mean work with .

Again, this is meant as a respectful commentary/debate, and no flame is/was intended, nor is it a debate as to which OS is better.

mtbinva said:

WMU, I have to point out, the reason Win 7 is outstanding, is the debacle of Vista. Now, granted, everyone complains of change, XP to what ever and Tiger to Leopard and so on; however, the Vista OS is bloated, chews up FAR to many resources etc...(this is NOT a Mac v. PC debate BTW for those looking for one). So the switch to Win 7 was indeed a welcomed one, however the sales figures are outstanding because everyone wanted the PC's to work, and work somewhat like their old XP machines used to. What burns be up is, Win 7 is what Vista SHOULD HAVE been. And for me to fix my Vista machine, I had to pay $200.00.

So the increase and record sales is a bit of a misnomer when you consider the reason why, because the existing market share wanted to fix their computers, me included. So, Win 7 should have been $29.00, and offered with an apology for Vista. Now this is based on other IT/Forensic/Systems engineers I drink beer with, I mean work with .

Again, this is meant as a respectful commentary/debate, and no flame is/was intended, nor is it a debate as to which OS is better.

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I've ran Vista Ultimate since day one on a 2.0 C2D Dell notebook with 4gb of RAM and never had any problems. I also ran it on other computers in the house and never had a problem. I have since upgraded to 7 and like the new features very much.

Village Idiot said:

I've ran Vista Ultimate since day one on a 2.0 C2D Dell notebook with 4gb of RAM and never had any problems. I also ran it on other computers in the house and never had a problem. I have since upgraded to 7 and like the new features very much.

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No doubt the new features are MUCH better. Win 7 is considerably more spry than Vista ever was. I've run every iteration of Vista.

My personal opinion is basically:

Vista = pile of pooh
7 = sigh of relief
MBP = Life is GREAT

For me, two outta three is not only not bad, but certainly better than the former. Again, just my $0.02

audiofader said:

Hey I don't know if there's been threads on this but, do you guys think that Mac will soon become the leader in the computer industry?

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There has been, recently too...

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/an...e-back-market-share-microsoft.html#post994107

wirelessmacuser said:

So _no_ Apple is _not_ about to take over. Its time to accept that we live in a high functioning Windows World where the platform is only getting better. On the desktop, Windows 7 is proving to be outstanding and the proof is in the sales numbers. Last month Windows 7 handily outsold Snow Leopard by a good margin. Especially when one consider that people were happy to pay over $200 minimum for Windows 7, when Snow Leopard was only $29 and available everywhere.

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"Time to accept"? Where have you been for the last 20 years? People were willing to fork over $200 for Win 7 because overall, Vista sucked (yes, not everyone hated it or had a bad experience, but enough did that MS dumped it pretty fast). Also consider that SL was a departure for Apple since it abandoned the PPC market and went Intel boxes only (there are far more PPC machines still in use than Apple has sold Intel machines to date and there will be for some years to come).

The fact that Apple has 8% market share in the US is, in fact, quite a large deal. 5 to 8 years ago they had maybe 2.5% - 3% at best, and it was dropping. World wide that number is now 3%-4% whereas it was maybe 1%-2% 5 to 8 years ago. While that is a small portion of the overall market share, consider how much the market has expanded in that time frame and you find that Apple has effectively more than doubled it's market share both in the US and worldwide in that period. No small feat in this Windows centric world. Yes, Vista played a role in that, but more important has been the iPod "Halo effect". iPod sales have consistently driven Mac sales and people who never ever considered a Mac before have been moved to try one based on their iPod experience and the tighter iPod to Mac integration.

Will Apples market share continue to grow? Yes. Will they become a dominant force replacing M$? Unlikely, for the reasons already cited above.

Now if you are talking about the Digital Media player and smart phone markets, they are already a leader in those areas.

Firstly, no Apple is not taking over, but is certainly dominating one of the most important sectors of the computer market, the upper section of the consumer market where the high margins and profits are. Why should Apple go after the low margin sector when it is making very good money succeeding in making high quality computers with decent margins.

8%, 6% 15%, 20%, Apple's market share of the whole PC industry is a moving target, depending on which countries, demographic and buying / business sector you choose as a metric. Lets just pick 8% (or even 3% worldwide based on shipments, not user base - which might be closer to 5%), that does not sound like much. But Apple is just one company in a competitive market. If they have 5% share of the worlds user base that that is huge in itself - making Apple a company that snatches a smallish world market share but hits the 5% of consumers willing to pay for well made product that gives the company a good profit margin.

Apple doesn't want to be the biggest company, it wants to make the best products and avoid razor thin margins - a good business strategy in my view.

And, lastly, no - Apple will not make a games console. The mentioned Pippin machine was a flop, the console market is already crowded and difficult to make decent margins in. Apple are not really interested in gamers, they can always use Bootcamp if they want a Mac and PC games.

I even think the rise of the iPhone and iPod Touch as a gaming platform came as a surprise to Apple, its like they now have a gaming platform almost by mistake. Not bad, if you think about it, gaining a portable gaming platform without even seeking out the market.

louishen said:

I even think the rise of the iPhone and iPod Touch as a gaming platform came as a surprise to Apple, its like they now have a gaming platform almost by mistake. Not bad, if you think about it, gaining a portable gaming platform without even seeking out the market.

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LOL!!!! I had to laugh at this one because it is SO true! Apple was like, "Hey we have a cool new phone and we have apps! We call it the iPhone. It does what else? Games? No kidding? SHUT UP! Really? We're cooler than we thought we were!"

Two thumbs up!

Simply put no and thank goodness.

mtbinva said:

LOL!!!! I had to laugh at this one because it is SO true! Apple was like, "Hey we have a cool new phone and we have apps! We call it the iPhone. It does what else? Games? No kidding? SHUT UP! Really? We're cooler than we thought we were!"

Two thumbs up!

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I love it. It's so true. And now the iPad is going to make them zillions of dollars, and if they put a sweet chip into newer models, you may be able to get some pretty freakin cool games for it, too.

As for wirelessmacuser... what? That rant was just... well, what?

Windows 7 outselling snow leopard has nothing to do Snow Leopard sales, as most people who can upgrade to snow leopard have or will. What you can compare windows 7 sales to to get a meaningful interpretation of anything would be to new mac sales. And the percentage of new mac sales that attach services like One to one, or to growth in new Mac sales.

Windows 7 is a better platform than Vista was. Primarily because Vista got pushed to market too early in order to try and compete with OS X 10.5 Leopard. Now they've gotten to tweak their new OS look. Which by the way is like Apple going from os 9.2 to OS X. Again, leading in innovation, and growing sales numbers. Yea, a lot of people buy windows 7. Honestly, many consumers don't even know that there are PCs that come with operating systems other than Windows. I sell PCs every day. I see these people all the time.

What are you trying to say? There was little point to that whole thing.

audiofader said:

Hey I don't know if there's been threads on this but, do you guys think that Mac will soon become the leader in the computer industry?

Click to expand...

To answer your question directly. Heck no
Apple is already the leader in the computer industry right now.

1. Highest customer satisfaction ratings.
2. Well known for inventing the best OS, that being OS X.
3. Only computer company in recent history to make 100% of a product. All hardware, OS and first party software by the dame company. And this product is the ipad.
4. Is well known to have and OS and Apps that have become the industry standard in may creative fields such has photography, video and sound.
5. Well known for having the prettiest/most modern boxes to put their hardware in.
6. Steve Jobs is probably the most popular CEO of a computer/software company at the moment.
7. Has the most popular/talked about MP3 player and smart phone.
8. itunes sells more music and apps then any other online non-physical music and app stores.

And the list goes on. Sure Apple computers don't have as big market share as some others. But in many categories that really count. Apple is the top dog.

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And to DarkestRitual:
You forgot to mention the people who bought a copy of W7 for the sole purpose of using it in bootcamp and parallels. A small number I'm sure but it's still part of W7's sales.

audiofader said:

Hey I don't know if there's been threads on this but, do you guys think that Mac will soon become the leader in the computer industry?

Click to expand...

IMO - no.

But - (and this is a big but)
They ARE the leader in premium computers.
Here's what that means. Mercedes will never outsell GM in terms of units sold. That's not a bad thing because GM sells so many products designed for people on a budget. So while MB will never be *the* leader in the auto industry, they easily lead their own niche market.

as a side note, I don't think Open Source will ever enter into the mainstream business sector either. I'm an Accounting student )with a computer science background), and the software needed to run even a moderately sized business is incredibly complex. The US tax code chances every year - that alone requires hordes of qualified people to design and maintain each piece of software. Generally they don't do it for free.

Back to Apple - yes we're seeing a major incursion into Microsoft's territory.

What worries me is how will Microsoft respond?
Remember when MS hired the sales rep that sold Suse to the German government? Karl Aigner?

With virtually unlimited resources there's no telling what they'll do.

TechieJustin you assume best equals most sales. Sometimes being the best is more then just sales. MacDonalds still sells the most burgers in the world. But I would not call them the best, they still make a POS burger.

Also, according to Quantast, a web analytics firm, OS X is installed on 11% of all North American web traffic.

As told by Ars,

Mac OS X North American installed base almost 11%

the8thark said:

TechieJustin you assume best equals most sales. Sometimes being the best is more then just sales. MacDonalds still sells the most burgers in the world. But I would not call them the best, they still make a POS burger.

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I understand. I didn't mean to imply that best always meant more sales.
Besides, McDonalds's gives me gas.

I would say the Mac is exerting their dominance more and more in recent years.

For the mcdonald's comment, yes their burgers are POS

the8thark said:

To answer your question directly. Heck no
Apple is already the leader in the computer industry right now.

1. Highest customer satisfaction ratings.
2. Well known for inventing the best OS, that being OS X.
3. Only computer company in recent history to make 100% of a product. All hardware, OS and first party software by the dame company. And this product is the ipad.
4. Is well known to have and OS and Apps that have become the industry standard in may creative fields such has photography, video and sound.
5. Well known for having the prettiest/most modern boxes to put their hardware in.
6. Steve Jobs is probably the most popular CEO of a computer/software company at the moment.
7. Has the most popular/talked about MP3 player and smart phone.
8. itunes sells more music and apps then any other online non-physical music and app stores.

And the list goes on. Sure Apple computers don't have as big market share as some others. But in many categories that really count. Apple is the top dog.

****************

And to DarkestRitual:
You forgot to mention the people who bought a copy of W7 for the sole purpose of using it in bootcamp and parallels. A small number I'm sure but it's still part of W7's sales.

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Nice opinions. 2,4,5,6.

No? No one likes my sweet source with the web analytics to back up 11% N.A. market share?

Also, 8th, good point. I did forget to pour on more facts to my complete debunking of that rant aimed at nothing in particular but attempting to say that because Windows 7 outsold OS X handily that OS X isn't growing in market share?