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YES! Lower prices -> increase market share.

Apple's goal should be no less than a Mac on every desk, lap and pocket (=iPhone) in the world. Take no prisoners!

After all, they have something like $15 BIllion (yes, that's a B) cash in the bank. How much more do they need? (Well, that's the wrong question really, because if they lowered their margin from 33% to 20%, their profits would soar even more because of the increase in market share). Boy I wish I was CEO of Apple...

One thing to remember, its a Forture article. They have no requirement to deal in facts, only what looks good.

en

sounds like fuzzy math to make something seem more impressive than it really is

I luv statistics.

100% baby. Yeah Apple has 100%.
Apple has 100% of notebook computers with the Apple logo on the them. Can´t touch that!

Won't have that sort of notebook market share for long if they continue with only glossy displays.

People in the premium market need choice.

Glossy is good for some things, but reflections on a laptop screen which is moved place to place is inexcusable.

To quote: "While other PC makers have been lowering their average selling price, Apple has been steadily increasing its price premiums relative to the rest of the market — great for keeping profit margins high, but not so good for growing market share."

This sentence is rife with fallacies.

1. Apple has not been increasing its price premiums. Prices for Macs of all types have been stable for a long time. Instead of raising price they have consistently improved the hardware that you get. 2. Their average selling price is nearly identical to the best selling PCs. Take a few minutes and compare the products offered by Dell to those offered by Apple. Once your research matches two machines on a hardware level, you will see that the prices are close to the same. 3. There's also an optical illusion involved here; the word 'relative' is the clue. When sitting on a train, with another train sitting beside it visible out the windows, it is sometimes hard to tell whether it is your train or the other that begins to move.

And as far as real prices go, I bought the first MAC on the market in 1984. It cost $5000. The MacBook Pro I have now is an incredibly better, more powerful machine and cost $1500 less. And that doesn't even factor in the differential due to inflation.

Some people might argue that students are a relatively poor segment of our population but they seem to be adopting Macs at a very high rate.

This guy needs to think again.

I agree with Matte Boy.

Glossy on a laptop just plain sucks.

MacMan, last year AAPL was sitting at $80+ per share, a huge run-up (for me at least) from my average pps of $12.50.

TODAY it is sitting at $170+ per share . . . a 110%+ increase from last year alone!

And you're telling us that YOU would do better than SJ at running Apple? Unless you're the CEO of GOOGLE or Warren Buffett, you might want to tone it down a bit, old boy.

Feh. Apple has very competitive pricing in the segments they choose to compete in, and they've been gaining market share steadily in those segments. The growth may slow given how exponential it's been, but that's no reason to change course. Apple knows better than to go after bottom-feeder customers who purchase low-margin computers and disproportionately use expensive tech support resources.

Let Dell have those customers -- that's a strategy that's great for Apple's bottom line and stock price.

Perhaps market share will rise radically when we get the new iPhones, and mini MacBooks and iSlate computers.

How many people need whacking great big desktops just to do email and surf?

@Pete in Seattle

"Glossy on a laptop just plain sucks." Then don't buy one! There; your arm has been officially untwisted.

"Apple holds 29% share of premium notebook market; 46% when excluding business computers..."

.....exclude all non-Apple computers and Apple has 100% of the notebook market!!!

The last line seems to defy logic - "There is little profit, if any, in selling a laptop that costs more to build and service than you make in sales"? Eh? I'd say there is *no* profit. Unless you're hoping for additional software, etc. sales which I don't think anyone should take for granted.

Matte Boy and the ilk get over yourselves. On the laptops - they sell both! What a concept.

The ones that complain about the iMac at least don't have the option. I bought the glossy on my MB Pro and love it - if you don't, get the matte one.

Sigh. MDN Magic Word "Love" - I love it when people think before posting.

I won\'t buy glossy laptops either.

Since Apple only offers glossy MacBooks, guess I\'ll stick with my reliable Dell on XP.

Won\'t have to learn a new OS either.

"I bought the glossy on my MB Pro and love it "

Glossy screens cause eye problems, eyestrain from the constant refocusing between the image and the reflections.

That's why glare screens were introduced for CRT's, now glossy screens are back without a choice in certain models of Apple computers. Like the iMac and MacBooks. imagine having to put glare screens on your Mac?

So Apple is screwing itself of sales because they are mandating glossy screens.

I won't buy glossy, niether did my XP switching friend.

"Since Apple only offers glossy MacBooks, guess I\'ll stick with my reliable Dell on XP."

Reliable Dell? That's an oxymoron!

So a bunch of snobs are buying MAC laptops. Big deal.

Microsoft Windows Vista.™ For the rest of us.

Your potential. Our passion.™

seriously, who cares?

I have a glossy screen iMac at home where I control the lighting and a matte screen on my laptop on the road where I do not control the lighting.

I prefer glossy screens as long as they are reflection free.

Dell

1: Matte screens - Good

2: 5 year FREE warranty - Good

3: XP - sucks, but usuable or use Linux for free. - Bad

4: Fully featured hardware or not, your choice - Good


Apple

1: Glossy - annoying, no choice - Bad

2: 1 year free, 3 year paid - Bad

3: OS X - great OS - Good

4: Premuim hardware only, limited choice of configurations - Bad

Dell wins

Wow. This is great. Narrow the definition of the market, and Apple has great numbers.

Guess what?? Apple owns 100% of the Macbook market! 100% of the Macbook Pro market as well!

You guys might be missing the "Fortune" logic - what he really means is that everyone else has been trying to maintain a competitive edge by cutting their prices, thereby cutting their margins. Since Apple doesn't cut their margins, they are, ipso facto "increasing their premiums". Heheh. Nice work boys.

But I think Fortune misses the real point. (Not surprising, really.) The real point is that the INDUSTRY faces a hard decision over the next 2-3 years. Will they let Apple take increasingly large chunks of the PREMIUM laptop market share? The top 20%, top 30%, top 50%.

The decision is simple: keep trying to out-discount each other, and keep losing money on the low-end crap in order to gain volume? Or compete with features and quality in order to make more profit per unit. Sell half as many units and make twice as much money should be the goal. Sounds crazy? Not if you run numbers.

How much net profit does Dell make on a $599 laptop? $50? $75? Especially when you factor in the returns and repairs on the garbage they put out. Now how much profit do you suppose Apple makes on a $1099 bottom-of-the-line MacBook? Would you say $100?

So there's a simple number test for you. If you can make a quality computer, sell it at a $100 margin instead of a $50 margin for your crappo laptop. Even if you sell half as many, you make the same money. And if you manage to eke out $200 in margins, you make twice as much. Bingo. Payoff.

The other big companies may eventually learn that the cheap knock-off companies will always be there to offer the worst product at the lowest price. Don't bother with them. Don't compete in that market. Apple doesn't, and look at their bottom line. They, not Apple, have the difficult decisions to make.

Great.

When Steve Ballmer artificially narrows the Mp3 market to hard-drive players and announces a 10% marketshare for the Zune, MDN blasts him for not comparing it to the total market and rest of the iPods.

When some random guy from Fortune artificially narrows the laptop market and announces much higher Mac marketshare in that narrowed market, MDN... just acts smug about their being more macs than most people think? Yeah, real fair and balanced.... considering all the rants about biased journalist bashing the macs, MDN might want to practice what it preaches.

^will probably get deleted by an insecure MDN webmaster

Have you actually used a glossy-screened MacBook? I have, every day for the last 6 or 8 months, and yes, I've been moving from location to location many times a day (I've been using it for taking notes in various classes, all of which have strong overhead lighting).

Do you know how often reflections have been a problem? Never.

@UH-OH

sounds like fuzzy math to make something seem more impressive than it really is

It's no fuzzier than the math in Excel.

It's also no fuzzier than the math that Microsoft uses when talking about their "sales" of Vista/Zunes/whatever.

Apple has an alignment change coming in the not so distant future, where it is said the MacBook Pro and MacBook line will "merge."

The lineup plugs a huge hole, where consumers will now get a 15" option without Apple sacraficing too many Pro sales. The lineup will all come in the same housing design (delivering more economies of scale to Apple). Here is the lineup:

13" MacBook:
Two configurations. The main break between the two is that the base model comes with an Intel video, while the high-end comes with an nVIDIA or ATI video chip set along with more RAM HD storage

Price:
- Base, $1,099
- Extended, $1,399

15" MacBook:
Again, video is the big break between the two models, along with base storage and RAM capacities.

Price:
- Base, $1,499
- Extended, $1,799

17" MacBook:
Video and storage (RAM and HD) are the breaks, as per normal.

Price:
- Base, $1,999
- Extended, $2,499

Overall, these are substantial price breaks for the lineup, while giving the consumer - for the first time - the ability to step into a 15" Apple laptop for $1,499, vs. the $1,999 required today. It gives consumers the ability to tote around a MacBook that "looks" and "feels" Pro, while for the true Pro, these prices allow them to:

A. Get more for less
or, more likely
B. Spend the same amount and get more

One more product in the lineup that is missing:

13" MacBook nano:
This is the much rumored "thin" enclosure, and will not contain a HD, and instead will be sporting 64 GB of Flash memory, but will contain an ultra-thin optical drive. Target weight is under 3 lbs, and it is getting an ultra-thin display as well. Many customs onboard this product to make it truly ultra-thin and ultra-light. It will also contain a Penryn processor an Santa Rosa mobo.

Price:
- $1,799

Only one configuration to start with, and of course, storage cannot be upgraded, only memory.

@Dell Luv
Dell

1: Matte screens - Good If that's what you prefer.

2: 5 year FREE warranty - Good Free?? I doubt it.

3: XP - sucks, but usuable or use Linux for free. - Bad Agreed.

4: Fully featured hardware or not, your choice - Good Why would I want crap?


Apple

1: Glossy - annoying, no choice - Bad There is a choice on the Apple laptops.

2: 1 year free, 3 year paid - Bad Not as good as the five year, but not bad.

3: OS X - great OS - Good Agreed.

4: Premuim hardware only, limited choice of configurations - Bad So it's bad that you can only choose high quality components???

Dell wins loses

MW=friends. Friends don't let friends use Dulls Dells

The reason you exclude business computers is to evaluate the market share for people who get to make their own decisions (no IT control) and have to pay out of their own pockets. Looks like about 46% of consumers do the research and make rational decisions.

Hi I'm Stu with an f, can you say STFU!

FUD and Trolls today, Wow! Gloss vs Matte, who gives a crap. 17" MacBook? no such thing, its the MacBook Pro.

At work I use a 19" Cintiq with a matte screen, and the diffused glare drives me crazy, so guess what kiddies it really makes no difference! In fact it would probably me less annoying if it was glossy.

And this lame article, can't these bozos see that Apple is successful BECAUSE they have bucked the traditional wisdom that these guys spout. They don't aim for the bottom of the barrel, like Dell does. Think Different!


MW = month
as in, must be that time of the month, don't trolls usually wait until Halloween?

For those who must have matte. See the following.

http://www.protectcovers.com/screen_protectors.htm

Buy it. Install it. STFU. F=Frell

en

Matte finish is #220 sandpaper away.

Just a little elbow grease.

The funny or odd thing is that the Bernstein report sounds postive for Apple, while Fortune's take is negative.

Look at Quintile 1-3 in previous years to see what's really going on. All that's happening here is that Apple Macs are getting more expensive relative to the competition.

As the quintiles don't correspond to equal numbers of PCs sold, only equal price breaks, the percentage numbers are fairly meaningless. If Apple are the only people left selling overpriced PCs, they will get 100% of that market.

Can that be right? 46%? Wow.

"Can that be right? 46%? Wow."

Yes, and don't forget, 100% share of notebooks with a fruit on the top cover sold by companies based in Cupertino.

Apple's business model is to sell good quality merchandise with high margins. Their innovative products allows them to increase their market share. Increased market share allows them to buy components for less and reduce the price of their products to compete better with their competitors.

The iPods evolved that way and now dominates the market AND maintain a good margin.

No-one else gets it and that is why Apple is poised to do the same in notebooks and then for the whole PC industry. Likewise for the cell phone market.

"Apple's business model is to sell good quality merchandise with high margins. Their innovative products allows them to increase their market share. Increased market share allows them to buy components for less and reduce the price of their products to compete better with their competitors."

Except that this data says that the trend has been for everybody else to decrease prices at a rate far greater than Apple, leaving Apple almost alone in the highest price segment.