MacDailyNews Note: Not true. The last time Apple had a higher market cap than Microsoft was December 19, 1989.
Nosowitz continues, “That Apple has, improbably and at long last, passed Microsoft in market value has everyone looking more closely at the two companies.”
“Rather than trying to examine the ever-changing facets of each business as a whole, let’s look at something more concrete — their products — as a measure of where the two tech giants stand right now,” Nosowitz writes. “Apple is startlingly narrow in their scope, at least in comparison. More focused on both hardware and the consumer (rather than enterprise) side of tech than Microsoft, Apple’s product lines are thus much easier to understand. You can take a glance at the homepages of the two companies to see the difference; Microsoft’s list of products runs to the dozens and includes several I’ve never heard of, while Apple has seven buttons corresponding to their products, all of which (MacBook, iPod, iMac, etc) are instantly distinctive and familiar. Despite a couple duds (I’m looking at you, Apple TV and Mac Mini [sic], Apple’s philosophy is both simple and focused on simplicity: ‘Get rid of the crappy stuff.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple TV has sold in excess of 8 million units (estimate) without any marketing to speak of. Apple TV is quite likely the best-selling device of its kind ever. Mac mini is not a “dud,” either. We have no idea why Nosowitz is calling those products “duds.”
Nosowitz opines, “Apple isn’t as big as Microsoft, and probably never will be. They don’t make or have as much money. But that the market has valued Apple higher is an affirmation that at the moment, Apple is leading the tech world.”
MacDailyNews Take: Nosowitz needs to do some research before scribbling. Debt-free Apple has more cash and short term investments on hand than Microsoft. Apple is within a billion of Microsoft’s revenue and will almost certainly make, not just “as much,” but much more money than Microsoft – and sooner, not later.
Full article here.
@bildad,
I can’t speak to using the mac mini as a server in this scenario, but please remember the Apple rep would much rather sell an XServe than a Mac Mini. I can’t imagine having too many problems with 7 users on a newer intel multi-core Mini.
Mac Mini a dud? ROTFLMAO!
My late 2009 Mini rocks 24/7 as my every day computer (home office) as well as doubling as the house DVR and media server with a 1tb firewire drive attached.
I have an older but very nice Apple Cinema HD Display and so didn’t want an iMac nor do I need a Mac Pro. The Mini has ample power for 95% of users. Bought as a refurb from the Apple Store for 499.00 and upgraded the hard drive and RAM myself (opening and upgradiing the Mac Mini is way easier than most people expect — hard drive and RAM swapped out in 10 minutes or less).
With all due (read: no) respect to Dan Nosowitz, back in 1989 he was likely only a few years old and could not remember accurately to back then.
As for his other comments, these are easily attributed to his current location, blogging from his parents basement.
Don’t be Dan Nosowitz-haters. He doesn’t know any better.
Now shutdown your Windoze machine Dan Nosowitz, and be sure to wipe up any ‘spills’, or you’ll be late for dinner. Be sure to wash your hands, OK?
A friend of mine in New Orleans just wrote me yesterday, told me he bought a Mini – to add to his MacBook…
Another friend runs his business with 2 Minis, one MacBook and one MacBook Pro…
The Mini – *and* the TV certainly aren’t duds..
As usual, the writer gets part of it…
=*^(
I hate it when they say Apple is focused on consumer. Apple is focused on empowering individual. Microsoft is focused on selling crap to enterprise.
I’ve had Apple TV for over a year and love it. Great way to surf youtube videos and watch my photo slideshows no HD TVs. No big market push on the Apple TVs, but they are slick and we enjoy renting an occasional movie in HD.
@Bildad
FYI, we have several Mini’s here in our office that are used by folks that do “non-power user” tasks every day. Writing, office type apps, email, scheduling, etc….absolutly a fantastic machine for them and we spend no time patching and fixing them. I do understand there are needs for pure horse-power and that is why we have out Towers.
Dud? I think not, just good common/business sense. Oh and we are company with well over 500 employee’s.
Oops! That should have been … “my photo sideshows on HD TVs”
@bildad (the shoehight?)
My swivel-neck iMac was accidently killed last year. Our budget wouldn’t support an iMac. We bought a Mac mini for $600 and a 1080 22″ Samsung monitor for $180. $40 for a 2Gig RAM boost and we’ve got a sweet little machine that handles Final Cut Express projects pretty well. Not bad for $820.
@Bilbod and the other MS fans.
Just now checked, and here is the results:
Apple Market Cap= 232.03B
M$ Market Cap =226.06B
Bye, go home to MS.com or where ever it is where you normally live.
I just love the name calling. Brilliant.
I’m not an MS fan. I’ve bought over 150 Mac computers since 1989. Including SE, SE30, IICI, FX, Numerous flavours of Quadra, Centris, Power Macs, two XServes, xRAID, iMacs, Mac Pros, iPhones, iPad yaddyyaddyaddah.
Why is it that some folks have such vitriol, such venom when any one says that slightest disparaging word against Apple?
I guess I just crawl back under my rock and communicate with the amoeba, They seem more engaging.
@Digits McGee
If you meant shuhite, then yes that’s from whence it comes.
MW:quality, as in I’m in awe of Apple’s quality, yet a bit less so in the discourse taking place here, not yours mind you.
@bildad
Mini a dud? Not for me. My wife and I use this as our home machine daily. She is notoriously hard on everything (clumsy from a car accident, not her fault) and destroys headphones like nobody’s business. She has yet to kill the mini (or her Macbook). Good quality, good machines, and really useful for our purposes. I actually believe that the mini may be a niche product within the Apple line up. A lot of those commenting here do heavy lifting with their machines, so the mini is not used by the for daily purposes. However, from my experience, it will handle almost any non-Adobe suite type applications very well. Maybe someone on here uses this also for Photoshop, but I have no experience there. Just my observation.
The PC weenies comments at the end of the article are a hoot. They hate admitting their ship is sinking.
The Mac mini (and the Mac mini Server) are duds, after a fashion. They are not flying out the door! They should be, but they are too under-powered for the trouble and money. Why not just get an iMac, if you have the money? Unless you know the secret of the Mac mini Server, which does a whole lot more for nearly no extra cash. You could see the “?” above my head as I approached one, staring at the two very strange icons on the Dock. Extra software to produce podcasts! And DAMN was it hard tracking down information on them. Finally did. Impressive stuff. As impressive as the other server software I fully expected to see. That you’d pay a lot extra for on a Windows Server.
The Mac mini family (including the Time Capsule and Apple TV) is a dud for one reason only – Apple is keeping it a secret. The engineers did a fine job.
One commenter actually stated that Microsoft enriched the human race! OMG what a dumbass moron.
I take offense at the idea that the Mac mini is a dud, my 2009 mini is the heart of my home entertainment system. HD movies, CD’s, DVD, internet, home network sharing, the list goes on and on. The dud is the dumb ass that wrote the article. The only thing I had to do to get video chip set on the mini to support my HD TV was $20 software to add the resolutions that I needed, add a wireless keyboard and mouse and retire to my easy chair with a hot toddy for an evenings entertainment. So bite me Danny boy.
I have a mac mini, 2.6ghz intel core 2 duo, 320gb hd, and 8 gigs of ddr3. Its hardly a dud.
Even the opening paragraph of thie article tells it all. The fact that MDN had to correct him on this fact is quite humorous.
@Gil Gamesh
“… upgradiing the Mac Mini is way easier than most people expect — hard drive and RAM swapped out in 10 minutes or less).”
Agreed. I popped open my Mac Mini, added some memory. It works like a charm – even on Photoshop. It’s on 24/7 and never has a problem. Great backup machine.
@bildad
If you are doing heavy graphics work in your office, e.g., prepress dept of printing company, then possibly a Mac mini might not be up to the task.
However, speaking for my shop, we have 7 in-house client machines and 2 off-site Macs accessing the Mac mini server. We use it for file sharing (it contains all our files) plus iCal Server and Address Book Server. Our email is farmed out. The result, like I said earlier, no problems, the mini just hums along. I typically don’t even restart it unless Apple releases an update which requires a machine restart.
Bottom line, the mini with SL Leopard Server installed is the absolutely cheapest solution for a small business network.
Another non-dud vote for AppleTV and the Mini. We own both and think highly of them. ATV is a great alternative to running to the local video store, wasting time looking through the dreck, only to discover they don’t have what you want or it’s checked out. No late fees, no unwatchable discs, no headaches. And far better selection of HD material.
As for the Mini, it has served my wife very well. We already have a couple of MacBooks, so she didn’t need or want portability. And she certainly didn’t need a Mac Pro. It’s perfect for her needs (mainly e-mail and web surfing). It’s small, quite, does what she needs, and came at about half the price of another portable or an iMac. We already had a screen, keyboard, and mouse, so it was a perfect solution. And as someone else said, if I still had small children, a mini would be essential.
And if she should so choose, she actually could use it as a portable to her work site. Simply disconnect three cables, pop it in a bag, and away she goes.
Now that the iPad is here, I could see lots of folks doing quite well with a Mini as their home computer and using the iPad for their mobile needs.
And if the Mini is such a dud, why do the refurb units always sell out within hours at Apple.com?
In defense of the Mac Mini it’s gateway tech. Meaning most windows users have a mouse, monitor, and keyboard. The Mini is a bargin at the $600 price point seeing as one could spend close to that much on a new computer, and upgrades on every version of windows since XP. I believe it fits nicely in Apples line up. I’m not filty rich but @ $600 dollars for a Mac it’s a steal.
Some PC addicts do not even look at Apple products but they do have a Windows pius opinion..