“With only a 2.3 percent share of the U.S. PC market last year, however, the switch campaign has a long way to go. It’s all well and good to be part of a self-styled elite, but Steve Jobs can’t be satisfied with those numbers,” Charles Cooper writes for CNET.
MacDailyNews Note: According to IDC, Apple Mac’s 2005 U.S. market share was 4% on 32% growth year over year, not the “2.3 percent” stated by Cooper.
Cooper continues, “Doubtless many people still refuse to buy the Mac because of a reluctance to give up certain prized applications that run only on Windows. So it was this week that Apple took matters into its own hands with the introduction of Boot Camp, a Windows utility that lets users of Intel-powered Macs run Windows. The download, which is free and, so far, glitch-free, ignited a veritable media scrum. For good reason. On the surface, it’s a can’t-lose proposition.”
“Apple’s not endorsing Windows. It’s endorsing the idea of Windows running on a machine that it sells. Most of the securities analysts who follow the company immediately upped their price projections. The stock gained 10 percent in the next couple of frenzied trading sessions. As far as the Apple faithful posting on the online chat boards were concerned, Boot Camp was a stroke of genius. Period,” Cooper writes. “Apple’s not endorsing Windows. It’s endorsing the idea of Windows running on a machine that it sells. But dare I say this aloud? Boot Camp is a gimmick. A smart gimmick but a gimmick nonetheless. Boot Camp functions as a security blanket for PC users who would wet their beds without their favorite Windows application. With one download, Apple removed any lingering barriers holding back the potential universe of switchers.”
“With all due respect to Messrs. Gates, Ballmer and Allchin, Windows makes very few hearts (outside the environs of Redmond, Wash.) go pitter-pat. Folks are not clamoring for Windows; they’re clamoring to run Windows applications. Do you think that once they get their hands on a Mac, people won’t be the least bit curious to experiment with the Macintosh operating system to see what all the fuss is about? Apple hopes so. The company won’t put it so bluntly, but it has zero interest in getting people to use Windows on a Mac. (No accident that Apple’s not going to support Windows on the Mac.) They want the voyeurs to take a peek at Mac OS and be seduced by all its charms,” Cooper writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, duh, Chuck. That bit of common knowledge hardly warranted the breathless writing and the “Dare I say this aloud? Boot Camp is a gimmick” headline. We – and many others – been saying it all along: Boot Camp lets potential switchers take their “Windows insecurity blanket” along with them where, after a bit of side-by-side testing, Mac OS X will win their hearts and minds. It ain’t rocket science, but we certainly believe that it’s going to work for Apple, big time. We’ve seen what happens when you take a Windows-only person and expose them to Mac OS X for a couple of weeks. “Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back” isn’t just a cute saying, it’s the truth.
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Related articles:
Apple trying to steal customers from Windows with Boot Camp by letting people try superior Mac OS X – April 09, 2006
Macs that run Windows will calm potential switchers’ irrational fears – April 06, 2006
Am I the only person who is getting tired of reading about Boot Camp and whether Apple intends to sell that god-awful Windows crap on Mac hardware or so other idiocy?
It is probably a good bet that those running Windows on a Mac might try using OS X and it eliminates the objection that some apps are Windows only and therefore a Mac can’t be used.
It is really frustrating trying to understand how the pundits, in all of their wit and wisdom, just don’t get the Apple/Mac culture.
Those who can do (and work for Apple). Those who cannot don’t and troll for C|net, Zdnet, et al.
The status quo is being rocked at its foundation. Get used to it trolls!
Does anyone actually read their shit? Scary and sad.
Boot Camp is needed to help cure the Stockholm Syndrome grip Windows has had on its users all these years, if they can comfortably start using a new environment without feeling they will anger their captures it will ease the transition.
Hasn’t anybody else come up with the thought that with Boot Camp to run their precious idiotic Windoze OS, those who are tired of all the adware and viruses and worms, etc. ad nauseum, will first start using OS X for the purpose of accessing the internet. They’ll run their office stuff and what-not on Windoze, thinking they can’t do it on a Mac, but will access and surf the net on the Mac OS. Eventually, they discover how much they prefer the Mac OS over their idiotic Windoze, and they’ll also find out that most of the things they need Windoze for they can find similar or superior apps for doing the same thing on Mac. And … bango … you’ve got a switch.