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 ...
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.
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