Mac Tax? No! Ping!
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Posted on 11/27/2009 7:30:18 PM PST by Swordmaker
All right, a new report from the NPD Group says that 48% of the retail dollars spent on personal computers in the U.S. now goes to Apple. However, that doesn’t add up to a 48%% market share by any means, because of the price of admission. But, folks, I still maintain there is no Apple Tax.
So how does Apple gain such a huge percentage of the money? Well, obviously, the average price of a Mac is way higher than the average price of a PC. Without going into the numbers specifically, the answer why is obvious: Apple won’t play in the cheap PC playground, because they don’t think it’s worth it.
You have to wonder just what Apple is thinking here and why it’s not going for the jugular in the alleged battle to the death with Microsoft, but the answers are crystal clear. Despite the fact that such industry giants as Dell and HP sell way more units than Apple, the latter makes higher profits and has loads of cash in the bank. So who can argue with that?
More to the point, with the great popularity of netbooks, it’s clear that millions of buyers are struggling to compute on the cheap. With products selling for less than $300, including a basic Windows OS license, it’s clear that the PC makers who sell such gear aren’t making a whole lot of money from each sale. They hope to make it up with volume, or perhaps entice you to customize your box and stock up on high profit extras, such as more memory, larger screens, extra software and other goodies.
Contrast this to Apple, which basically sells fully-outfitted Macs with very limited, carefully defined configurations. Yes, there is a “build-to-order” option that allows you to customize your new Mac with extra memory, a larger hard drive and a handful of other goodies, but your choices are limited. That is, other than the Mac Pro, where there are far more selections with which to cater to the needs of the content creators who are willing and able to afford expensive workstations.
But even the basic Mac mini, at $599, comes with a pretty decent bundle of software, including the latest iLife suite, plus components that may be optional on a low-end PC, such as gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A common scheme the PC makers pull to keep prices low is to scrimp on the Windows OS licensing. Although there is but one fully-featured version of the Snow Leopard client product, there are several variations of Windows 7. Most of the time, the cheap boxes come with a Home version, but you need to buy Ultimate to unlock all the features, and that’s usually $100 to $150 more.
Apple just won’t sell stripped machines, even though I can see a need, particularly in the enterprise where some of the usual frills, such as a Web cam on the notebooks and iMac, and even Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, may not be needed for obvious reasons, such as office security. Forget the cost of the software, since it’s just a disk image that entails no extra expense for Apple when building the product.
But Apple’s main sales focus is on the consumer. Yes, that consumer may run a business, and it’s very common for people these days to want to bring their Macs into the office. There are countless stories of corporate executives taking their Macs and iPhones to the IT departments and demanding they support such gear. When the boss says do it, the IT person must say yes, even if they are wedded to the known trials and tribulations of Windows machines.
As I’ve said before, when you actually equip the PC with something comparable — or mostly comparable — to the Mac, you find the cost differences largely vanish. The Mac is sometimes a little more expensive, sometimes cheaper. PC makers are more inclined to tout instant discounts to grab a quick sale, and that’s where they might offer an added price advantage. But there’s no evidence that there’s such a thing as an Apple Tax. That was long ago and far away.
On the other hand, there is a Microsoft Tax, even though Windows fans usually can’t handle this uncomfortable truth. It comes in the form of the annual subscription fee paid for name-brand security software, and the higher level of maintenance the PC box usually requires.
Also consider the plight of the PC user with Windows XP installed. If they want to upgrade to Windows 7, which is actually a pretty decent operating system despite still being saddled with such land mines as the dreaded Registry, they are forced to do a clean install. By clean, I mean wiping the hard drive after backing up your stuff to an external drive. Microsoft’s migration utility is limited to your own documents, not applications, such it’s of little help in dealing with the real issues, which involve reinstalling all your apps and hoping all your settings will still work even if they are restored to the same location on your PC’s drive. Yes, that’s not a given.
If you can’t handle that clean install yourself, you are forced to pay someone to do it for you, or just buy a new PC. Either amounts to added expense — a Microsoft Tax. Is it even worth it? I don’t think so.
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I am okay with Macs, but “Apple just won’t sell stripped machines,” the Mac Mini doesn’t even come with a mouse or keyboard. That is stripped. I’m okay with it, but it is stripped.
Not stripped of software...
What about the “PC” tax, I was always buying these expensive machines every couple of years and I wound up cursing at them a lot.
3 + years with an iMac and a Macbook and it still runs the way it did out of the box, how is that possible?
To all of you builders and tinkerers I bought the iMac as a refurb and the Macbook for a third off brand new from Craiglist.
I have no interest in learning to build my own powerful PC on the cheap, nor the interest in the maintenance, updating spyware, anti-virus, adware, etc. and running these programs often.
If you’re idea of a swinging Saturday night consists of a defragging of your PC, well I guess you got the better “deal”.
Remember, the Mini is targeted on switchers who already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse. The Mini also is selected as a home media server that does not need the additional peripherals...
Apple is plenty happy with their business plan, and the cash in the bank speaks volumes...
Apple is a hardware company with a software division.
Microsoft is a software company with a hardware division. (they make X-boxes, keyboards, and mice - no computers)
The supposed Mac/PC battle royale is a media concoction.
Here is how I see it:
How many people do you know whose PC became unusable due to adware, trojans or viruses?
How many people do you know whose Mac became unusable due to adware, trojans or viruses?
I think those people who recognize this difference are very willing to pay the perceived “Apple Tax”. I know I am. And this is not to denigrate Windows, I use Windows XP at work, and in a controlled environment with strict controls and constantly updated virus definitions and patch applications, it works fine and is useful for me.
But for home use, I enjoy using a Mac. Just my choice...others may choose differently, and I respect that.
It is a distinction lost on many. It is important to understand.
LOL, maybe you're right, but some Freepers like to spend their time beating their keyboards into swords.
The key word here is “retail”. Retail Apple stores sell as many iPods and iPhones as anything else. There are millions of those in use. To say Apple has anything near 48% of the computer market is just hype, even of the consumer home use computer market.
Mac Mini is what it’s advertised to be. If you have a monitor, keyboard & mouse, you can buy a Mini and do pretty much anything you want in a rock solid OS right out of the box. It’s got a lot of punch to come in such a small little, box.
Mac Mini is what it’s advertised to be. If you have a monitor, keyboard & mouse, you can buy a Mini and do pretty much anything you want in a rock solid OS right out of the box. It’s got a lot of punch to come in such a small little, box.
All right, a new report from the NPD Group says that 48% of the retail dollars spent on personal computers in the U.S. now goes to Apple. However, that doesn't add up to a 48% market share by any means, because of the price of admission... Apple won't play in the cheap PC playground, because they don't think it's worth it... Despite the fact that such industry giants as Dell and HP sell way more units than Apple, the latter makes higher profits and has loads of cash in the bank... More to the point, with the great popularity of netbooks, it's clear that millions of buyers are struggling to compute on the cheap. With products selling for less than $300, including a basic Windows OS license, it's clear that the PC makers who sell such gear aren't making a whole lot of money from each sale... Contrast this to Apple, which basically sells fully-outfitted Macs with very limited, carefully defined configurations.The ordinary PC has a markup similar to supermarket bananas, or somethin'.
Sheesh. Your Apple Derangement Syndrome is showing.
It does not say that. READ THE ARTICLE before you comment, Toad. Try reading for comprehension. This has NOTHING to do with iPods or iPhones revenues.
What it says is that Apple gets 48% of all REVENUE—the MONEY—from the sales of desktop computer sales in the US, not that they have 48% of the market of personal computers... just 48% of the money... with only 10% of the units sold.
Here is the article on the NPD report.
My first home computer was a Mac. Since then, I went through two of them and a few pc based systems. I switched because of software availability, which has always been one of the primary selling points. I’ve watched Apple move up from near bankruptcy to the present day. They do not account for 48% of computer sales, even to home, but they nailed the internet image processing market. If you want digital video, get an Apple system to do it. This is now a huge sector.
I think the iPod and the iPhone drew a lot of customers back to Apple machines. It drew people to the company and into the stores. It seems to have helped them sell a large number of machines.
Sig, Apple accounts for 48% of the MONEY spent on retail sales of desktop computers and 33% of the money spent on retail sales of notebook computers sold at retail in the United States in October. They account for only 9.4 % of the total number of personal computers sold in the US during the same month. Essentially, the portion of those 9.4% that were desktop computer accounted for 48% of all the money spent at retail on desktop computers in the US.
In other words, 90.6% of computers sold with Windows and Linux installed on them, whether desktops, notebooks, or netbooks, account for the other 52% of the money. That is a fact.
Clean installs were never very difficult. But with the advent of external hard drives there is no excuse and you don't have to be that smart.
I can think of one legitimate excuse
Many computers today are sold with huge hard drives that are un-partitioned except for a recovery partition
Therefore if someone fills up a 500gb-1000gb hard drive I can see where it can be an imposition to back up all that data without making mistakes onto an external. Then putting all or most back on the hard drive after the re-format or upgrade
The obvious solution is to have a partition for your operating system. For Vista/Windows 7 I allow 40-50gb on a 500gb or larger hard drive. Less on a smaller one
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