Posted on 07/19/2005 10:51:08 AM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Computer moved up a notch to become the No.4 seller of personal computers in the United States in the second quarter as Macintosh sales soared by one-third, according to two reports. Lenovo, the Chinese company that owns the IBM personal computer brand, lost share.Apple won 4.5 percent of the market to trail Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, the market research company IDC said Monday in a report. IDC's rival Gartner put Apple's share at 4.3 percent.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Yeah, I just can't get all that excited about a company named Lenovo.
4.5 percent? It doesn't appear that many people are very excited about Apple either!
Wow, that's SERIESLY HUGH.
Look out, Windoze. Here comes the mightly Apple juggernaut!!! </sarcasm>
Hmm, I'm not sure that's anything to brag about. I have worked in several large corporate IT environments and I'm not sure I've ever seen an IBM desktop.
Laoptops and servers, however, are all over the place.
They make great servers, but that is not a part of the ChiCom deal.
Just curious.
You know I was pricing out the upperend of the "T" series for Thinkpads last niht and I was not all that impressed by the bang for the buck.
I have. It was a 20MB, dual floppy unit. Had an IBM logo on it!
"Look out, Windoze. Here comes the mightly Apple juggernaut!!! "
I believe if you added up the number of machines Apple has EVER sold it does not come close to the figure of PC's sold last quarter alone ...
"I have. It was a 20MB, dual floppy unit. Had an IBM logo on it!"
Had an IBM portable, with a CRT.
This little beastie fits right on top of one of my bookends. And, as shown above, it's scarcely larger than a double-CD jewel case.
In spite of that, it holds a 10/100 NIC, 56K modem, DVI/VGA converter, 2 USB-2 slots and 1 firewire slot, plus a CD-RW/DVD-RW, 80 GB HD and 512 MB RAM.
The whole thing only set me back around $500. That makes it pretty competitive with the PC market.
"You laughing at me?
Hell, I'm laughing all the way
to the bank, sucker!"
If you added up the number of worms, viruses and spyware on all of the Macs that Apple has ever sold, it would not come close the the number that have infected one average Windows computer.
My company, a major worldwide company has used IBM past 3 years. We will be migrating to Dell later this year, though
From http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/5933/
"Macintosh software comprises over 18% of all software sold, according to the Software and Information Industry Association. In addition, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) estimates that 16 percent of computer users are on Macs."
In other words, while the actual sales of Macs is pretty low (a bit over 4 percent), those actually using Macs (for a number of reasons) is quite a bit higher.
And that's all I have to say about that. You guys use what you want, and as a Mac-using software developer, audio/video editor, and website developer, I'll continue having the competitive advantage over you.
Competitive advantage? LOL! Look at the pricing structures, the software availability, the parts availability. To each his own... and as far as the infecting, no one considers Apple to be a target because there aren't enough to make it worth their effort. As for keeping a PC clean, anyone with half a brain can prevent that.
"As for keeping a PC clean, anyone with half a brain can prevent that."
Well, considering just how many PC users are having major problems, it would appear that a majority of them are laboring through life with less than half a brain.
I'd say, yep, competitive advantage. Apples rarely break, so spare parts is largely a boogeyman. Most of the difference in "software availability" is for non-productivity software such as games and card making programs and other dreck. No Apple-centric network requires an IT manager as long as no Windoze machines are hooked into it. A Mac remains very useable for up to a decade or more after installation in my own experience.
"From h ttp://macdailynews.com..."
LOL
Do you gather your political statistics from DU ?
"Well, considering just how many PC users are having major problems, it would appear that a majority of them are laboring through life with less than half a brain."
... and the amount of brain power required to keep a Mac from acquiring spyware is ... ? LOL
I wonder what the balance sheets would look like without the IPod cash cow ?
Probably true for those individuals, but PCs are still selling to the overwhelming majority of consumers. And that is what is called successful business.
You can argue "competitive advantage" when you get near the sales percentages of the PC. Right now, superior or not, the Apple just doesn't sell like the PC. Ever wonder why so many more people prefer the PC, foibles and all?
"and the amount of brain power required to keep a Mac from acquiring spyware is ... ? LOL"
Next to none. And you think that is negative? LOL.
"Ever wonder why so many more people prefer the PC, foibles and all?"
Because, historically speaking, it's been regarded as cheaper at purchase.
"I wonder what the balance sheets would look like without the IPod cash cow ?"
Apple has been sitting on billions in cash for quite some time. The iPod was a nice breakthrough into consumer electronics, and has certainly been a positive. But the business was hardly failing prior to that.
Indeed. I'm doing freelance work on a project where I develop the Mac version and another guy does the Windows version. It's amazing the hoops he has to jump through to get functionality that's free or trivial to add on OS X.
" It's amazing the hoops he has to jump through to get functionality that's free or trivial to add on OS X."
What will he do when they go to the Intel platform ? Will the older Mac software run on OS X running on Intel ?
Not wise to laugh at others. I didn't say not nice, I said not wise.
Look at the pricing structures, the software availability, the parts availability.
Doesn't that say something about the quality and usability? Lot's of people pay more for it. Why? I have never wanted a software package I couldn't find for a Mac. I don't know about parts as I have never had to replace anything. I have no problem finding ram, disks, monitors, printers, etc.
To each his own... and as far as the infecting, no one considers Apple to be a target because there aren't enough to make it worth their effort.
Who cares? Please explain to me how viruses, et al, are "worth someone's effort"? I suppose some excellent stores don't get vandalized either, not worth the effort.
As for keeping a PC clean, anyone with half a brain can prevent that.
Lot's of no brainers begging for help even here of FR.
"Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has released two security fixes for bugs in its OS X operating system.
The first patch plugs a hole that could be exploited to allow hackers to crash a system by sending a specially crafted data packet."
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/44651.html
Security problems ?
Sounds like a pretty minor problem affecting only a few users, if any. Not like the daily security alarms and patches for each MS release of almost anything.
"Security problems ?"
Oooooh... you found one, LOL. Now, would you care to post all the security problems extant within any current OS from Microsoft?
DING! DING! DING! DING! We have a winner! All that nonsense about who is "competitive" is really decided by purchase price.
Especially when it's written out to correspond with the Chinese characters: Le Ngo Bo - LOL!
"Sounds like a pretty minor problem affecting only a few users, if any."
I did get a kick that it dosen't affect computers that are protected by something else ... duh
From the link - The update moves OS X 10.4 to version 10.4.2 and marks the third security update for the operating system since its release in April.
Just surprised that they found any - I believe we were told a while back that there was no way to effect a Mac. Wonder what will happen when they start using Intel chips ?
The same could be said about Lexus or BMW. They don't sell that many cars, but market share isn't really their niche -- quality and luxury are their niche. I think the same can be said about Apple. The specs on their machines (clockspeed, etc) are not impressive, but Apple is widely admired for clean design and good build quality.
Upgrades are a big reason to own a PC. You can keep updating them and stay on top of technology much cheaper than replacing the entire computer, and they are user friendly hardware. Apple has always been somewhat "proprietary" to keep you from servicing your own system.
Regarding parts, I had to replace a CD-ROM Drive in a friend's old Apple and the cost for replacing the SCSI version is extremely high, compared to ATAPI drives.
"All that nonsense about who is "competitive" is really decided by purchase price."
"Competitive" has a variety of meanings, depending upon context. If you're talking perception of affordability, I'll grant you that. Lowest actual cost of ownership, I'd give the nod to Apple. Ease of use, Apple. Productivity, Apple. Highest frustration level, Microsoft. Worst security problems, Microsoft.
I own and use both and with that I will agree. However, the design of the Mac for the last few years has made the inside easily accessible.
"Competitive" in this case is dominance by one technology over the other by a landslide in sales results. Period. When Apple starts equalizing market share with the PC, we'll take you more seriously.
"Competitive" in this case is dominance by one technology over the other by a landslide in sales results."
LOL. One "technology?" It's all boiling down to who has the superior OS, now isn't it? Time will tell.
Yep, so far after 25 years, Apple has yet to make a mere scratch in the overall sales percentages. How long do you want to give them to reach 50% of the marketplace? Another 50 years?
And yet, they're still around and profitable, despite repeated predictions of their imminent demise, which is substantially better than many PC vendors.
How long do you want to give them to reach 50% of the marketplace? Another 50 years?
I don't know, how long before BMW has a 50% market share?
Yeah, existing software built for PowerPC Macs will run on OS X Intel using emulation. Early reports are that compatibility is excellent, although of course there's a performance hit. Most OS X software can be recompiled for Intel with little or no changes; it's not anywhere near as big a switch as going from OS 9 to OS X.
In a word, "no". The average computer buyer doesn't know Intel from Shmintel. And there'll be no "compatibility". They'll still be closed architecture Apples. Now if Steve Jobs were to change his operating system EULA so it doesn't prohibit installing it on ANY non-Apple hardware, you might see sales take a jump, but that ain't gonna happen - he'd never get away with charging those hardware prices in a truly open market.
Apple could be made of solid platinum and a few diehards will continue to buy them for esoteric reasons, but the mass market still wants the cheaper PC, replacing it every few years and continually upgrading between purchases with new gadgets that are much more affordable than those high Apple prices.
>>Apples rarely break<<
You obviously haven't been reading Apple's support forums.
>>A Mac remains very useable for up to a decade or more after installation in my own experience.<<
This is utterly absurd. My wife bought a performa 6116 in 1995 that was obsolete before it hit her desk. No ability to upgrade it, and we gave it away in or around 1998.
What case? Popularity=quality? A dozen counterexamples come to mind. Are you this contemptuous of every company that doesn't have a majority of the market?
I expect that HP computers will soon go the way of all PCs, to the grinding machine where they will become road fill, a suitable end to worm-ridden, virus-infected, trouble-laden PCs.
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