“In launching its next-generation G5 processor, Apple has made some innovative and market-savvy moves, say industry watchers. The company has formed an alliance with tech powerhouse IBM, it has moved into the new world of 64-bit computing, and it can now claim its computers are as fast as — possibly faster than — the fastest Windows PCs. Yet doubt remains about the company’s prospects for increasing its miniscule market share, which now hovers around 3.5 percent,” reports James Maguire for NewsFactor.com.
MacDailyNews Note: The Apple-IBM-Motorola (AIM) PowerPC alliance was established in 1991.
“‘There is a tendency toward monopoly in the industry, because customers want seamless compatibility,’ IDC analyst Roger Kay told NewsFactor. ‘There’s a tendency among business customers to coalesce around a single standard.’ That single standard ‘could have been Apple, if Apple years ago had lowered its prices and liberalized its licensing policies. But it didn’t do that, and as a result, it got marginalized, and the other platform became mainstream,’ he said. ‘I don’t think anything changes that, so now Apple is down to a few specialty applications that really use the differentiated Apple platform, like superior ease of use and very powerful graphics calculations,’ he said,” reports Maguire.
Maguire reports, “Apple ‘has a solid brand,’ Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds told NewsFactor, ‘They’ve got solid products, they’re good at moving into other areas, and they’ve got attributes that other companies can’t match.’ Successful areas of expansion for Apple include iTunes, which Jobs claimed has sold more than 5 million songs, and the iPod music player, of which Apple has sold more than 1 million. Yet, as Forrester analyst Rob Enderle told NewsFactor, Apple ‘isn’t just a niche player — it’s a small niche player.’ So, for all of the innovation the company is introducing with its next-generation G5 processor, its market battle remains decidedly uphill. The new release ‘will help them maintain market share — I don’t think it will help them gain,’ Kay said.” Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Market share, schmarket share. All Apple needs is enough market share to remain profitable, continue its excellent R&D and insure top-flight applications for the Mac platform. Anything else is gravy and an increases the liklyhood of the virus and worm plagues enjoyed by the Windows crowd. These analysts are obsessed with “market share” and cannot see the forest for the trees.
