An iCal alarm popped up for us today. It said:
Mark Oct. 22 on your calendar. That’s the day that Apple’s classic ‘I’m a Mac. I’m A PC’ attack ads are going to cease to be humorous. Oct. 22 is, of course, the formal release date of Windows 7… Here’s what I believe will happen: The Windows 7 launch will take those market-share gains Apple has seen over the past several years and make them disappear… Yes, the Mac has had a great run for the past couple of years. Gartner says Apple’s share of the U.S. computer market for the third quarter amounted to 8.8 percent, up from 8.6 percent in the year-ago period. My bet is that market share is going to drop below 5 percent by the end of 2010… Windows 7 is a great product and Apple is going to feel the pain from it. – Steven Burke, CRN, October 15, 2009
Let’s check in with Gartner:
Whoopsie. Let’s hope for Steven’s sake that all he bet was his reputation. Not a big loss. And, Steven, Apple’s feeling no pain unless it’s from the strain of driving dump trucks full of cash to the bank 24/7/365.
Now, granted, while those are the latest numbers, they’re not truly “the end of 2010,” so we’ll check in again in a few weeks when Gartner releases their numbers for calendar 4th quarter.
Of course, nobody sane expects Apple to go from 10.4% to under 5% in three months, but we’re certainly not averse to serving crow twice.
Send your New Year’s wishes to Steven here:
[Thanks to MacDailyNews' jam-packed iCal for the heads up.]
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