“I recently looked at the new Gartner PC market share numbers and was somewhat surprised to see that Apple is now in the top 5 of PC vendors and perhaps more importantly, now has a market share of 6.2%. IDC puts their market share about one point lower, but even with that, these numbers are impressive if you realize that less then 24 months ago, Apple’s market share was barely 3.8% of the total WW market for PC’,” Creative Strategies’ Tim Bajarin writes for Technology Pundits.

“Many believe that this important growth comes from the halo effect of the iPod and while this is likely true, Apple’s products are catching on with new users and PC switchers,” Bajarin writes. “Apple says that over half of the 1.6 million Mac’s sold during the last quarter at their stores were bought by people new to the Mac platform.”

Bajarin writes, “But, there is something else going on here that I am convinced bodes well for Apple and will be a problem for the PC vendors if they don’t figure out how to counter it. My son Ben does our research in the area of Gen X and Gen Y users and he was talking to kids at his alma mater recently and they told him that over half of the kids at this private college were Mac users. I was talking to a very senior exec at a major PC company recently and he complained that all his teen age son wants is a Mac, even though he has access to PC’s up the wazoo.”

“In talking to various Apple executives over the last few years, it has been clear that they understood something that the mainstream PC vendors are just realizing now; That is that the real tech market of today and the future is not Silver Surfers or Baby Boomers. It is Gen X and Gen Y and Apple has spent a lot of time over the last five years creating products that are cool, innovative and creative that hits the sweet spot of these buyers. And, of this group, Gen Y or kids between 14 and 24 are the most influential when it comes to buying tech products,” Bajarin writes.

Bajarin writes, “We have done a lot of research in this area and it is clear that this is the demographic that will drive the demand for new technology in the future. And this is where Apple excels. They clearly study this demographic closely and create their products for them. And, amazingly, what they create for Gen Y translates well to Gen X and the older generations since Gen Y is the crowd these older groups turn to to get advice for what they should buy. I spoke with a grandparent recently who said that he bought his new Mac on the recommendation of his 17 year old grandson and loves it.”

Full article here.
“Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.” – Henry Ward Beecher

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