“It seems the popularity of the iPod could well be boosting Apple’s financials in unexpected ways. According to a survey of iPod users by financial analyst firm Piper Jaffray, Macs are now basking in the reflected glory from the iPod, with a percentage of those owning the music player saying they have already or are intending to ditch their PC for a Mac,” Jo Best reports for Silicon.com.
“The research found that six per cent of iPod users had made the switch and another seven per cent said they were planning to dump their old PC desktop for an Apple machine,” Best reports. “Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray senior research analyst, said the iPod halo effect will make a difference to Apple for a while to come. ‘We’re in the very early innings of a multi-year trend,’ he said. Among the factors influencing the ex-PC crowd were ease-of-use, the focus on entertainment and the perception of better security.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Perception” of better security? How about plain old actual better security? It’ll be fun to watch the “Wintel Biased” media spin the switcher story (especially now that they’ll be feeling quite threatened) from here on out. Expect a lot of good old (and new) attempts at Mac FUD coming soon; the “computer help radio show” hosts and Wintel-centric media won’t like this shift to Mac OS X quality one bit. As for the iPod, we propose Apple institute the tinkling of a bell as iPod’s startup chime – that angel’s already earned her wings big time.
How about “security” ?
Windows doesn’t really have any…
“It seems the popularity of the iPod could well be boosting Apple’s financials in unexpected ways.”
Yeah, unexpected. To all those except the true ‘Apple faithful’ and Apple itself.
You guys must look at some of the comments made by readers at the bottom of the article � especially the one made by “music fan”. This guy call himself a web designer, and still calls the PC/Wintel version the better platform. I have been doing professional designwork for over 10 years now, and I can tells you if a brochure or any other printed material was designed on a PC or Mac. usually the PC-Option is of inferior creative quality compared to the Mac version. So, to anyone out there calling themselves designers and then saying they prefer a Mac to a PC you guys are just wannabes – except in the 3D design field which is mainly software dependant.
What are the top 10 reasons why we like Macs over Windows?
10. UNIX that’s easy to use. (Lets you get under the hood if you want, but you don’t have to).
9. Security, with fewer updates (and constant updates don’t keep wrecking compatibility of many of your apps, or make your computer unusable). Plus no viruses. At all.
8. Much more polished interface than Windows, with Expose, slick Fast User Switching, Location Manager to switch network settings, Command switching between apps, the ability to run many many apps without fear of crashing your computer.
7. Friendly community of users who help each other out.
6. Apple Stores rock. Free classes, and free tech support from “Geniuses.”
5. Much more beautiful interface than Windows.
4. None of those amazingly annoying pop-up Wizards taking over your computer to “help you out.”
3. No pop-up windows while browsing without your consent (thanks Safari)
2. Tabbed browsing in the default browser.
1. It’s not Windows.
All I now need to learn is how to type fast and spell correctly.
We can only hope people will see the light, unfortuately most prefer to be in the darkness.
“In the name of freedom, people do what they’re told.” – Jb
I second ph8te’s comments. PC designers suck as they never quite “get it”. At the company I’m working for now, I was the first Mac user. The “Designers” that were there before me told me that they use MS Paint as they’re main creation tool. Even after I “educated” them, they still didn’t believe me until I started cranking out high quality and PROFESSIONAL work. The boss still cracks jokes about my Mac even though a) I have the fastest computer in the entire company, b) after a virus cripples the entire company, I’m still working, and c) they’re constantly amazed by the programs I use. Go figure.
Halo effect: when Apple’s pop culture iCon, iPod, becomes their leading salesman.
I remember one near-future sci-fi story I read a few years back where one character was making a point to another, “Well, do you remember Windows?”
YES! I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!!! STEVE IS A GENIUS!!!
Come all ye faithful PC users into the light of computing!
A little story�
And high up on the mountain slope there was a little puff of white. Bill stared for a moment, and then said “hmph”. But the little puff of white began to get bigger, and seemed to be moving closer. Bill looked again and said, “Perhaps we should move in doors,” and stepped into the mansion. But the puff of white had become a large smudge and was moving faster, and becoming larger, and was begining to make some real noise. And those around Bill were whispering amongst themselves as Bill stared through the large Window he himself had installed in his castle. After a while Bill noticed that he was now alone in the great room, but near the Window frame he noticed a note and many footprints in the snow outside the Window: “It’s been fun. Had to run. Enjoy the avalanche!” Bill looked up and quietly contemplated the approaching white curtain.
The End
A touching story, RePlay.
I was in tears at the end.
this switch stuff from pc to mac is lots of hot air.
i wonder how many people switch the other way???
REPlay: don�t give up the day job….
I don’t know, but I know several people who didn’t even have “Apple Computer” in their vocabulary 2 years ago.
A co-worker of mine had her PC bite the dust last week and told me she had no clue what to buy to replace it. So after talking for a little bit she basically told me to pick a new computer out for her that was under $1,000 and she’d go buy it. So, naturally I picked out an eMac and she went and bought it yesterday. When I told her it was made by Apple she was impressed because “oh yeah, they make those really cool iPod things don’t they? I’m sure their computers are excellent too.”
So it’s not necessarily a halo effect switch, but it’s a switch nevertheless.
Switcheroooo is probably just stirring the pot but my experience is that you are forced to use a PC in your work environment because IT wants the support jobs necessary to support the Windows. I have to install blockers, disable “features” etc to keep my PC functioning. Fortunately it is used mostly for terminal emulation into a UNIX computer maintained by a few Support people. Most problems originate with the Wintel PC itself rather than the Central computer.
I love the idea of a startup chime for the iPod. I think that with OSX being so stable and not needing near as many restarts or for that matter the fact that mine runs all the time means that there are far fewer angels getting their wings of late. So perhaps by adding a startup chime to the iPod we will help keep their numbers up.
PC’s are good for those who are tech-savvy. In other words, my 1337 neighbor has no problems with security, viruses, and troubleshooting. Neither do I on my PC (because we know what we’re doing). However, someone commented on the original article and said that “Mac’s are good – in their place”. Well, it happens that “their place” is on the desks (and laps) of people who just want to use their computer, hassle-free, and don’t want to call their geek nephew when things go sour. In other words, you don’t have to have a computer degree to turn on Apache and dish out web-pages. My mother does it. Another comment said that PC’s are better for “important things like gaming…”. Since when are games important? Get an X-Box (of course, the only reason I have a PC is for gaming). I work in IT. I used to work with a PC, until I got my PowerBook and my Dual G5. I am so much more productive in all my IT duties on my Macs. For example: Apache, MySQL, and PHP came with my Macs. They run on FreeBSD Unix. Anytime I research things for these items, I easily find what I’m looking for, but I always see “special configurations” if you are trying to do it on a Windows platform. Using Macs, I am able to deploy, manage, and keep software updated (not “patched”, mind you) on 400 users, by myself. One guy. 400 computers humming along, and still have time help troubleshoot my friends PC’s over the phone. There is very little you can’t do with a Mac. For everything you can do on a PC and not a Mac, there are 2 things you can do on a Mac and not a PC.
Mac’s just work. I don’t have time to deal with Windows errors and problems. I have more important things to do like sipping martini with hot chix. The sooner I get my work done the sooner I get to sipping. Mac’s get the work done on time, no hassles, no worries.
As Shawn Colvin sings, “I will always be telling this story…” As a high school spec. ed teacher and yearbook advisor (talk about multiple personalities), I have three Macs in my room. A blueberry iMac (running X.2), a flat screen iMac and new Powerbook (both X.3.6). Each has gotten a workout. Since upgrading the blueberry to X in April 2003, it and the other Macs have not had to be restarted because of a crash… ever… Meanwhile the Gateway/Dell/and other junk box using school administration and faculty have multiple crashes per week, some at the most inopportune times, i.e. when report cards have to be done. Students drool when they see the Macs but salivate profusely when they see Expose or any of the other stuff I now take for granted. My supervisor keeps trying to entice me into going Windows – for no good reason other than “every else has that.” What foolishness. When the PCs crash and burn, my yearbook keeps chugging. The kids love these dream machines running Photoshop, InDesign, iMovie, Keynote, etc. and they just keep working. What else do you want out of a computer?