“According to several indices Apple is again growing in the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry. Specialized resellers focused in this area are not only carrying record levels of available software choices — as more and more developers continue to support the Mac platform — but sales for the last quarter were higher than expected,” Anthony Frausto-Robledo writes for Architosh.
“Greg Conyngham, AIA, an architect and president of Integrated CADD Services, one of the nation’s largest Apple VARs specializing in the CAD (specifically ArchiCAD) and AEC markets noted that for them it’s been one of the ‘best quarters in Apple sales in over a year…. It has been a lot of ‘switchers,” says Greg. ‘A lot of them are coming back to the Mac having been users years back.’ With the up-and-down architectural economy in the US Northeast market, Greg notes that many firms have downsized several times and in those transitions many senior professionals chose to exit their employers and start their own practices. When they did that, he said, they ‘often left the Autocad or Datacad world on the PC’ and came to ICS to learn ArchiCAD. When they did that they often jumped back on the Macintosh,” Frausto-Robledo writes.
“As Greg mentioned, the Macintosh allows smaller or solo practices to thrive without the need of internal IT experts. The Windows operating systems, with their constant attendant viruses and security patches, represent too much of a headache for these professionals,” Frausto-Robledo writes. “Perhaps the best leading indicator of a growing market for Apple in AEC is the continued trend in more excellent software for AEC businesses. Recent newcomers include such exciting products as Maxwell Render; Cheetah 3D; MaxonForm, a new add-on to Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD BIM application; and business software solutions like SharedPlan and Architectronica Information Management System.”
“Such new software development is responding to a growing market place where the demand for more Macintosh native software is clearly evident,” Frausto-Robledo writes. “With Apple expanding its installed base — now over 16 million on Mac OS X alone — and its market share growing nearly twice as fast as its nearest rivals, the company is finally acting prepared to battle it out for more share of the AEC market. Not too long ago the company created a dedicated Architecture section within its Small Business area on its corporate US website, something it has had on its Apple Euro sites for years. And this year for the first time in more then half a decade, Apple Computer held an event at the annual AIA (American Institute of Architects) Convention and Expo focusing on architectural practice on the Mac platform. The limited seating event proved hugely popular with a better-than-expected attendance.”
Full article with much more, including how the Intel-based Macs will impact the AEC market, here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Java-based application allows viewing Autocad files on Macintosh – July 23, 2004
Autodesk working with Apple: will it lead to AutoCAD for Mac OS X? – September 10, 2003
Autodesk requests AutoCAD for OS X feedback – May 05, 2003
A Powerbook in a Windows/AutoCAD Architecture Firm – April 02, 2003
Ah, the truth is out there……
good news for engineers…
and sad news about our favorite Sci-Fi engineer…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050720/ap_on_en_tv/obit_doohan
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Numbers? “it’s been one of the ‘best quarters in Apple sales in over a year…” That’s not exactly rave improvement.
Is this important?
Scotty did invent Transparent Aluminum on a Mac.
just need Autocad to jump in and all well be set
…after first trying to speak into the mouse! heh, heh! ahhh….
good ol’ Scotty… always a kidder, he was….
See the claccic clip here.
http://www.theapplecollection.com/Collection/AppleMovies/mov/scotty.html
Red Ripe…
you are indeed, Da Man. thanx.
It’s not just AutoCAD, but also ESRI and their ArcView and ArcInfo products. They ceased supporting a Mac version years ago and sadly would be a tough sell to get them back.
I think one approach would be to get the state and federal planning and engineering agencies to convert over to Macs (again, a tough sell) and then the consulting world will get right in line.
Probably an oversimplification, but then I’m an Urban Planner and used to dealing with politicians!
What OS X needs is a good circuit simulation (PSPICE) program with a gui for drawing and checking the schematics and graphical results of simulation runs.
– Mark
Good news and good article, especially after some of the recent discussions on this forum regarding the availability of Archi CAD software for the Mac.
It’s good to hear this stuff, being one engineer that has never left the Mac platform. Vectorworks really works well for me in much of my tooling design activities. What I’d really like to see, however, is the development of some CAM (computer aided manufacturing) software. I’m not impressed at all with Master Cam.
User friendly applications are difficult to produce for the mass
market. These professions have varying degrees of “hands on
experience”…and this is the dilemma.
Good luck to those who like Apple and the sofware offerings they
have!
CT ======]————– A
Sarah Aaran,
>Numbers? “it’s been one of the ‘best quarters in Apple sales in over a year…” That’s not exactly rave improvement.
Is this important?>
YES!
In the opening scene of Master and Commander, the French ship fires an opening barrage from out of a fog bank against the Surprise, with Aubrey having only moments to shout a warning upon hearing the boom of the canons.
Does anybody want call out a warning to ol’ Bill? Anybody?
Fire away Apple.
These people were switcing to Macs BEFORE Apple switched to Intel….
This move to Intel at this time is a BIG mistake.
I use macs at home and am stuck using Windows to run 3DS MAX, Rhino and Autocad at work. Rhino works under VirtualPC, but I would do backflips in Discreet put out Mac versions again! Maybe with market and mind share on the rise it could come about! What a day that would be!
The best product out there runs on the Mac
MAYA!!!! the de facto industry standard, and winner of the Oscar!
There is a program that is very mac like & far superior to Archi-cad sadly that program is windows only REVIT does everything out of the box you can create your own components without having to learn complicated programming languages, it is fully parametric, changes instantly occur in all views at the same time (without re-gens). Where does this great software come from? The very short sighted Auto desk. AUTODESK BRING BACK YOUR INDUSTRY STANDARD & NEW INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS TO THERE RIGHTFUL HOME ON THE MAC AND STOP CLINGING TO THE CRAP COMING FROM MICROSHAFT
And who knows that Turbo 3D , the very first CAD program ever written for the Mac in 1984, is still alive and works fine under Tiger ? ( http://turbo3d@online.fr )
Sorry… see http://turbo3d.online.fr
AutoCad is the Microsoft of the A&E world.
– steep learning curve (Paper space / model space / view ports, etc)
– price ($4,000.00 per copy)
– buggy / unstable
Vectorworks rocks
– very simple to use (I can have a highschool kid, with no prior cad experience, up and running within 2 weeks)
– handles multiple scales on single drawings without viewports and paperspace
– price is $1,200.00
– very stable
As with Apple computers, there are alternatives out in the market place other than the monopoly…people just need to wake up.
My engineering office is an all mac (except for the one wintel box that we remote into for specialtiy software / we keep it off the web entirely).
I’m a landscape architect with my own practice. I began my practice two years ago this week, and my first decision was to completely dump windoze and autocrap. I got one of the first G5’s and Vectorworks. My productivity went up at least 50% immediately, with no learning curve. Just to buy a base model wintel machine with Autocrap would have cost me twice as much as the top of the line apple, 20″ monitor, and Vectorworks. I used the savings to buy Sketchup (one of the greatest programs ever created), and several other programs that really put my firm in a position to land better projects. Best decision I ever made in the business.