“Merrill Lynch increased its 2004 unit growth forecast to 13% from 11%, the same as in 2003, based on a decent consumer showing and an improving corporate market,” Forbes.com reports.
“Apple Computer saw unit share dip below 2% for the first time–down to 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Merrill Lynch said, ‘We expect iPod success eventually to spill over into Mac purchases,'” Forbes.com reports.
Full article here.
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Apple share below 2% and selling as never done before. Merrill Lynch should know better that global market share has little to do with actual presence in the consumer market.
That also explain why, contrary to what anal-ysts predicted, iTMS sales did not jump tenfolds with the release of the Windows version: cash registers, dumb terminal and alike do not account for a home user behind. All that 95% of market share probably amounts to less than 50% of home users.
well, judging from my Wintel friends they do not even *dare* to dowload or share music online because of viruses. Some do connect just for the time to send an email and disconnect again. I tell them it is a dumb way to use a computer but they simply do not believe my Mac is immune. Seeing me with a permanent connection is not enough. Normally they are clever but on computing it is as if someone unplugs their brains and they praise Microsoft. For what it is beyond comprehension.
While the logic is sound enough and you did say ‘probably’, the ‘less than 50% of home users’ doesn’t quite ring true. It may well be 85% to 90% rather than 95%, but less than 50% is really pushing it.
I like it, but I don’t believe it for a moment !
Part of the problem is that windows ships with most PCs, but a fair few move to Linux. Those switchers don’t affect the market share. I don’t think there are any installed OS market share figures. I’d expect them to be slightly different to the simple PCs sold figures (to the detriment of windows).
The problem with the spillover idea is that iPods sell better than hotcakes because they are great AND price competitive.
However it is widely believed, by the people who are shopping for computers, that Macs are not price competitive.
The bottom line counts for a lot.
Hywel, perhaps I read Seahawk’s post differently. I thought Seahawk was saying that less than 50% of the pc sales are to home users. You make a good point that the market share numbers can no longer be interpreted to assume a specific os.
treadlightly / Seahawk.
Re-read it and engaged brain this time. I see what you mean now ! yes. WAY less than 50%.
In my case, I have 1 PC at work, 1 PC and 2 macs at home. But I attach to a fair number of PC servers at work in order to get my work done.
Plus EVERYBODY here has a PC and there are PCs in meeting rooms. The chef has a PC on the network, the security guy on the front desk has a PC on the network. There’s a PC running the plasma screen at the front desk (and badly too – OS-X would do a much better job)
In fact, I might see if I can get konfabulator to do a better job just to demonstrate it to them.
Joe, you may be partially right about the cost, but consider this: More and more PC virii (including today’s announcement that MyDoom now deletes files) are making people madder and madder at their computers. So now they stop by an Apple store and get an iPod, and they see the new iMacs. They start looking at them, talking to people, and considering the purchase. The spillover effect may get some of these folks.
More and more reasons to switch these days. People are slow to learn, but it’s happening.
I always wonder what the percents would be if you only looked at “personal” computers. I would think that the majority of MACs are used at home. Take out the work/business PC and what do you get?
if Apple made computesr to the same low quality standards as the PC assemblers, their market share would go way up because people would have to buy a new one much more often or when a new OS is rolled out. I read somewhere the other day someone had a seven year old Apple and it runs OSX just fine. Try that with a PC and Micro shit!
Jesus . . . 1 PC and 2 macs at home!!! . . . get a life!!
Apple just continues to slip down the slope. Market share gets smaller and smaller. Obviously Apple has a serious problem with its product mix and is too slow to bring out newer, faster, cheaper computers.
The eMac is a dog, iMac sales are in the toilet….and I�m waiting for a faster dual G5.
Spillover effect of ipod purchases will be a teeny-tiny amount on sales (my daughter has an ipod and uses it with her windows pc) and any sales would be to people that were already planning on buying a mac.
Time for apple to bring out some new ideas in its computer product mix.
Humm.. well this is a positive news for Apple. Analyst actually had a descent thing to say about Apple computers. People take what you can get.
“if Apple made computesr to the same low quality standards as the PC assemblers, their market share would go way up because people would have to buy a new one much more often or when a new OS is rolled out.” – 1hunglo
I am afraid not. Apple will be synonym with crap and the media will kill them. IT people will have a new ammunition to slight Apple. MS drones will continue to buy Windows. Non-partisan/new users will think that the much-argued-about quality of Macs are lies.
Hey Wisenheimer 2 (no relation), how can you say that Apple doesn’t put out good new ideas in its product mixes? Look at some of the recent hardware & software that Apple is creating. The G5 are rocking, Panther is the best OS out there, light years ahead of any flavor of Windows. iLife 4 has some great apps for $49!!! The price point comparisons pretty close, despite what Joe Mc sez.
The problem is that people are sheep. I buy what my company buys. I buy what everyone else buys. I don’t think for myself. I don’t shop and find that there really IS software for the Mac. Baaaaaah.
So, Apple’s problem is not products. It’s not price. It’s perception. Get people to actually look at their products and they may buy. So, the iPod helps in that respect. As does the Apple Store, located in your nearby mall.
Now, along the same lines, if they put out a good ad or 2, maybe they can get things moving even faster!
My 2 cents….
Don’t forget.
You have to keep replacing or upgrading the PC’s. While, Macs continue to work.
That is why Apple’s market share is so low. If Apple made a disposable product which needed to be replaced or updated every year, then it’s market share would be significantly higher.
Nobody,
You are correct, I say the market share would increase but they would go down the tubes like all the other PC makers these days. I was being facetious.
like Al says
The lack of understanding of Apple products is in no small measure due to lack of marketing…ask why it is that Dell uses full page ads in newspapera with lots of content, and Apple not only does not use this medium but prefers high priced tv advertising because it is classy, i.e. is image advertising. As for substance, forget it. This is why the general public do not appreciate the superiority of the operating system, features such as .Mac and on and on and on. Why not, for once, put some detail in the newspaper, spell out the advantages. Put some comparative articles there, such as recent ones that independently describe superior security, worm freedom day when you buy a Mac. But do we really want to deprive the sheep of their worms? I can see the theme now: No worms in your Apple!
Jimbo if you read my post VERY carefully you will note that I did not offer an opinion about price, but rather an opinion about other’s opinions about price. I am trying to avoid the same old arguement. If you imagine that pc’s and macs are priced closely, that is fine. I think the fact that imac sales were down 25% in fourth quarter is a refection of what others feel about price.
With that, I think my original point about iPod vs. Mac sales stands. One is not going to lead to much improvement in the other. Imagine what you like, but I don’t know of any facts that can make me conclude otherwise. And, of course, we can always wait and see.
And yeah, a good ad or 2 would help. How can apple lose to that stupid butterfly?????
I just worry that Apple’s not doing enough to combat the perception that Macs are “weird” and don’t work with everything.
I had a “phone rage” experience last night. I was trying to register with my health insurance company’s online service, but was having problems. I tried using IE, but still couldn’t register. I called their help line. The woman walked me through this and that, and finally asked “are you using Internet Explorer”? I said “Yes, I’m using Internet Explorer,” and before I could stop myself, added “for Mac.”
I knew what I’d done, but it was too late. It was like a switch had been flipped in that woman’s head. “Oh, we don’t support Mac.” I couldn’t get a thing out of her. I tried explaining to her that a browser was a browser, but nothing was penetrating the skull. She suggested that I use a friend’s computer. How’s that for service, huh?
After I nearly broke my receiver in half hanging up the phone, I dug out my PC laptop, plugged it into my DSL, and tried to register again. I got the same error! Well, no @#$%ing DUH! It was just a simple JavaScript form! It had nothing to do with whether I was using a Mac or a PC.
“Oh, we don’t support Mac.”
If I had lied, and pretended to be using a PC, 99-100% of her help would have applied to me.
This can’t help the switching campaign, this perception that, if you buy a Mac, you can look forward to being left high-and-dry by every help desk in the nation. Apple really should address this. They should have a campaign to get sites to (officially) support the Macintosh. Show these idiots what good customers we are, how much we make in a year. Maybe then they wouldn’t program their help desk drones to turn their brains off when they hear “Mac”.
I see your point Joe. We do agree that it is in the perception. You may be right. Folks buy iPods because the media screams that they are good. The media is not too vocal about Macs not getting all these viruses, so sleepy ol’ Joe U.S. Citizen continues on his merry way, buying what the sheep buy.
<RANT>Not to pick on us US folks much but geez, all these bubbas driving around in pickups proclaiming theirs to be the best, with a picture of Calvin peeing on the other guy’s logo. Hell no, I look around and know which pickup is best for me. But I’m gonna buy what everyone else is buying when it comes to PCs. </RANT>
Oops! Sorry Joe Mc, I was not attempting to slam you when I said “Joe US Citizen”. I was merely using Joe like everyone else. Hope you didn’t take that wrong!!!
James Evans – Well the PC got relegated to my son’s room so for playing Finding Nemo etc and for my wife to do college stuff that is not Mac compatible. The 2nd mac is old and slow, but kept as a backup machine. It’s not like they’re networked or anything.
I do do some freelance stuff from home, so they’re not just sad geek toys (though they are that to an extent!)