“I got an earful at the New York State Fair last week…. My primary advice to readers who are ready to buy a new computer has been to switch to an Apple Macintosh. Apple’s computers are based on Unix, a safer operating system than Windows, and they are unaffected by Windows viruses, spyware and zombieware. That’s what I told fairgoers who asked me what I thought. And it’s probably what I told folks who didn’t ask me what I thought, too,” Al Fasodlt writes for The Syracuse Post-Standard.
“Some of those I talked to said they hadn’t realized that Apple’s computers handled such common Windows documents as Microsoft Word files. In fact, Microsoft created Word for the Mac first, then created the Windows version after it was clear the program would be a success. Microsoft even offers a Mac OS X version of the Office suite; it’s Office 2004,” Fasodlt writes.
“I had some spirited conversations about personal choice in computing, too. Competition is vital, but information is important, too. I had the feeling, after talking to many readers, that Microsoft’s competitors need to advertise on TV and in print media more,” Fasodlt writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We must meet the same people as Al. Almost universally, they don’t know a thing about Apple Macintosh. Apple hasn’t just dropped the ball, they buried it several miles down. Here’s hoping that Apple wakes up and takes advantage of Microsoft’s malaise by actually getting the word out through advertising that the Mac is quite compatible with other platforms and is the better choice for the vast majority of personal computer users.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple show its patented Mac OS X ‘Genie Effect’ in TV ads? – October 07, 2004
Top Ten things Apple needs to show the world about Macintosh – July 30, 2003
Dear MacDude,
Thanks heaps for the link I knew this stuff existed in one place somewhere on the net.
However I have to disagree with your analysis of Apple’s view of market share. Apple is a publicly listed company and no organisation with many thousands of investors would do this for too long…their shareholders would rebel.
I’m a co-director of a privately listed company where the investors are directors. Believe me when it comes to market share we are downright predatory, and we are known as a politically progressive company (i.e. we spend a lot on our workforce). But market share…give me more. And Apple’s board believes this as well. That’s one of the main reasons they’re in an intimate co-habitation with Intel.
Oh my god Sputnik is back! In your absence the world has been a sad place. Please keep the humour coming, your comments absolutely crack me up. Keep up the good work.
P.S. I hope no-one actually thinks Sput is a rabid windows users, he’s taking the piss out everyone. Enjoy it while it lasts.
That has ALWAYS been one of Apples big problems, lousy advertizing. They need to show that a Mac can do the same stuff as Windows both in print ads and TV radio & ads. They focus on the wrong stuff in their ads. Especially TV. They always focus on LOOKS. BAD IDEA STEVE. FIRE your ad department.
Seriously, Apple ads suck. Always have.
to ishufflemyfeet: Steve is the ad department
re: “Apple ads suck. Always have”
Well, that may be an over-generalization. There are exceptional ads by Apple that were quite effective. Some of us remember the infamous commercial aired during the 1984 Super Bowl (see the link)
http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/1984.html
That ad was a work of genius; the message was powerful: An allusion to the “big brother” character in the famous “1984” novel by George Orwell (written in 1948). Whereas Orwell was hinting at Stalin, the ad hinted at “Big Blue”, IBM, that was dominating the computer industry at the time.
Another good ad series by Apple is the silhouette iPod ads.
So there is hope for Apple, if they take a page out of their own book of creativity.
Apple is scared to lead. Apple is more comfortable being number two.
To iDON’T:
Apple is not scared to lead. Apple is not number two.
Apple is leading, and is number one. Apple leads with innovation, compelling products and brand recognition. Apple is the darling of the industry at present. Apple is pursued aggressively by those that want to emulate Apple’s successes, those that want to sue Apple in order to reap from Apple’s successes, and those that want to partner with Apple to capitalize on and further Apple’s successes.
Having all the money and marketshare does not make one a leader.
Dear bikersrule,
I didn’t say anything about Apple’s market share, what I meant to say it’s stupid to create too much demand if your not able to meet that demand.
You’ll just end up with a bunch of pissed off potential customers with no product.
Logistically speaking, there is no way IBM or AMD could fullfill the worlds or even Intels shoes with processors. The growth would have to be gradual.
Now with Intel chips because of their vast numeber of fabs, Apple can virtually “expolde” with advertising and meet the demand it creates.
Because for every Mac sold, that’s not a Win PC sold, the chip volume is the same. Without running into a problem where Apple runs out of processors.
So I fully expect as Apple creates more stores and finally has MacTels ready to go in great abundance, will we see a media blitz like all Macheads dream of.
Apple is definatly growing and the best is yet to come, right now it’s the groundwork that has to be laid.
M$ knows this and is quaking in their shoes, but as much as M$ makes Windows somewhat better, Apple innovates and improves so much that M$ can’t keep up.
Apple is the new hip guy on the block and M$ is the tired old has been.
Well, I went pure Mac for a year and a half and finally I could not take it anymore. I went back to Windows, cause I wanted to get stuff done and wanted to stop lying to myself that OS X is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
True, OS X is very well done, much mmore compatible then previous OS 9,8,7 have been, and you CAN LIVE with it, but it is still not 100% compatible with the world. And it is slow.
The computers themselves are nice, and some of them are works of art, but I can put together a PC for under a grand that can compete in real world apps with anything apple has, not good. At the same time everything I run will be 100% compatible.
Im not going to go into everything I like and dont like about either, not the place, but come on people, the cult thing is old and I am kinda upset I got caught up into it.
I still have 2 Macs in the house, and I still use them mostly as file servers now, but most of my time is back in Windows which has imporved greatly over the last year and a half, and it is nice to have that snappiness back in my OS.
Cheers and flame away
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Apple should get involved in motorsport sponsorships like Red Bull did to F1, Nascar, ChampCar and other series. It would be the best advertising method to reach how great Apple it is. RedBull out grew Coke in terms of profitably and revenues. They spend motorsports advertising more than any other drinks combined including Budwisers,etc…however they produce sales!
Apple should follow RedBull’s marketing method.