“If there’s a recipe for success in the relentlessly churning PC and digital entertainment industries, it may go something like this: Combine innovative, consumer-friendly technology with sleek design. Add impeccably crafted, integrated branding and marketing strategies. Stir and serve … quickly,” Karlene Lukovitz writes for MediaPost’s Marketing Daily.
“Amid a formidable and growing cast of competitors, Apple has been pulling off this tricky soufflé with iron chef mastery. Steve Jobs has racked up an impressive list of feats since returning as CEO in 1996, and that list grew longer last year,” Lukovitz writes.
“Our Marketer of the Year has defied predictions that it could not sustain the momentum of the iPod brand juggernaut, unleashed in 2001. The company’s once-moribund Mac is making a comeback. Apple now boasts the world’s fastest-growing retail chain. And it continues to unveil major new products and initiatives, while also feeding a steady stream of upgraded and expanded offerings into the marketplace,” Lukovitz writes.
“Apple’s biggest headline-grabber for the year was the Mac’s increasingly strong performance. The company shipped 1.61 million Macs in its fourth quarter (out of the 5.3 million shipped for the year)–a 30% period-over-period gain and the computer’s best-ever single-quarter showing,” Lukovitz writes. “Gartner reported that Mac shipments grew 31% in the first three quarters of calendar ’06, jacking up the brand’s estimated share of the U.S. PC market from 4.6% to 6.1%. While Dell and Hewlett-Packard remain the giants–with 32% and 23% market shares, respectively–Apple’s performance put it a hair’s-breadth behind No. 3 computer maker Gateway (with a 6.4% share), causing some analysts to hail a long-awaited tipping point from niche marketer to big-league contender.”
Much more in the full article here.
Related article:
The Washington Times’ 2006 Best Tech Company: Apple Computer – January 02, 2007
What was that quote from Jobs? Dell, we have you in our sights, we’re coming after you.
Something like that.. they’ve already long blown past Dell’s market cap, and are on pace to seriously challenge market share next. May be a few years down the road, but whatever gains Apple picks up Dell won’t be able to win them back… ever.
“Amid a formidable and growing cast of competitors…”
Where?
I’ll take a stab at that, Macnut222:
For computer hardware:
Dell, HP/Compac, Gateway, Acer, Sony, Lenovo, White Box generic boxes.
PC OS:
Microsoft
Online media sales:
Amazon, MTV, Napster, Real, Virgin, Microsoft
Portable Music
Creative, Sandisc, Microsoft, Toshiba..
(Soon) Cell Phones
Nokia, Sony Ericson, LG, Motorolla
Movie editing:
Avid
How’s that for a start? Some are more worthy competitors than others, but the fact remains Apple is not successful in a vacuum, they are out competing their rivals in every area they do business successfully. That I believe was the point the article was trying to make.
for PC OS you can add..
Linux and Unix
really nice . i am using mac note book. it has vista. can i install xp in it.