“Apple has been waging a quiet war against Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system in its television ads and on its Web site. Now, the Mac maker is bringing the fight to its chain of 170 retail stores, as well,” Think Secret reports.
“The company has distributed a six-page document to its sales representatives suggesting ways for them to tout the Mac’s advantages over Vista,” Think Secret reports.
Think Secret reports, “Framed as bringing customers ‘beyond Vista,’ Apple’s key messages for its sales reps center around Vista’s upgrade hassles, the Mac’s ability to run Windows, the need to choose from multiple versions of Vista, and the expense of Vista compared to Mac OS X and iLife.”
“Apple is also educating its retail sales force in how to draw parallels between the functionality of Vista and features present in the existing release of Mac OS X: for example, the Aero user interface in Vista as compared to OS X’s Aqua GUI,” Think Secret reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Please don’t be shy, Apple. It’s time.
Related articles:
Windows Vista woes push BBC News editor to regret never having ‘defected’ to Apple Mac – February 06, 2007
Bill Gates unhinged with Apple envy; Microsoft on path to become high profile casualty – February 06, 2007
Apple takes dead aim at Microsoft’s Windows Vista in latest ‘Get a Mac’ ad (with video) – February 06, 2007
Digit: Don’t buy Vista; Microsoft may be driving millions to stick with XP or move to Apple Mac – February 05, 2007
Bill Gates has lost his mind: calls Apple liars, copiers; slams Mac OS X security vs. Windows – February 02, 2007
TIME Magazine: Microsoft’s Windows Vista ‘an embarassment to the good name of American innovation’ – February 02, 2007
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Those unfamiliar with Apple’s Mac OS X may be impressed with Windows Vista – January 29, 2007
Digit: ‘Microsoft’s Windows Vista may be the best reason yet to buy an Apple Mac’ – January 29, 2007
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Windows Vista disappoints, so get a Mac – January 29, 2007
Microsoft emails reveal serious Mac OS X Tiger envy – January 26, 2007
Analyst: Microsoft’s Windows Vista could be an opportunity for Apple – January 26, 2007
CNET Reviews Windows Vista: Is that all? Clunky and not very intuitive vs. Mac OS X; warmed-over XP – January 24, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard will create no new jobs – December 12, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
Apple Macs can run more software than Windows PCs – October 30, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista is basically Microsoft’s version of Mac OS 9.3 – October 11, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 20, 2003
Net Applications: Apple’s Mac market share continues rise, hits 6.22% in January 2007 – February 01, 2007
Gartner: Apple’s U.S. Mac shipments up 30.6% year over year – January 18, 2007
Net Applications: Apple’s Mac market share continues rise, now at 5.39%, up 31% year-over-year – December 01, 2006
Apple’s Mac market share surges, up 35-percent year-over-year as growth accelerates – November 01, 2006
Analyst: Apple has ‘real shot at dramatically expanding Macintosh market share’ – October 31, 2006
Analyst: Apple Mac gains market share, the reason why is significant – October 26, 2006
IDC: Apple Mac attained 5.8% of U.S. market share in Q3 06 – October 18, 2006
Gartner: Apple Mac grabbed 6.1% of U.S. market share in Q3 06 – October 18, 2006
Again, I think the gloves are coming off. Apple is getting ready for a fight – finally!
Interestingly enough, and quite scary, M$ is trying to use it’s political power on the backdating options case as their last resort.
the gloves are off!
Gloves off? You bet.
My advice on the proper attitude to take towards Microsoft comes from a really awful movie:
Mongol General: What is best in life?
Conan the Barbarian: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
– Dialogue from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Conan the Barbarian (1982)
“…features present in the existing release of Mac OS X”?
Like what? Crapple scrambled to include things they heard about in Vista. Poorly. Have you Mac morons seen Vista? It rocks!
A 6-page guide isn’t what these Apple Store employees need. They’re going to need something to do. Nobody, and I mean nobody, will even think about wasting their time at an Apple Store now that they can get Vista. Who’s going to buy a Vista wannabe when they can get the real thing? Hey Apple Store staff: you got time to lean, you got time to clean.
Which is more empty: the feeling Apple has shamelessly copying Microsoft (again), or the Apple Stores now that Vista is out?
Your potential. Our passion.
It’s the eye of the tiger
its the cream of the fight
risin up to the challenge of our rivals
and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
and he’s watching us all with the eye of the tiger
Risin up
straight to the top
had the guts got the glory
went the distance now I’m not gonna stop
just a man and his will to survive
must….stop…the…urge..to…shadow….box
Give it a break Zune Tang. Your joke has become our pain. So piss off now.
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
– Sun Tzu
Meanwhile, Microsoft tilts at the iPod click-wheel with the Zune Phone.
How now, brown wow?
It’s about time Apple started beating back Microsoft and their crap products.
Give it up Zune Tang, your jokes are no longer funny. Go find something more productive to do with your time than blatantly asking for a foot up your arse.
Never ride into battle with dingleberries. Be pure in mind and crack – let the enemy smudge his saddle.
-Peggy Tzu, Sun’s older sister
May be the best OS win. Dont by shy linux, cmon your in the fight too.
Zune Tang….from stale to downright moldy.
May be the best OS win. Dont by shy linux, cmon your in the fight too.
Apple isn’t putting up much of a fight.. The “gloves aren’t off”….
Until Apple opens up OSX to run on Standard PC hardware, it will always be a bit player…
I love my Macs and have mixed feeling about seeing the OS opened.. But in reality we will never gain a major % of the market unless the OS is readily available to the masses, which it’s not – and I suspect never will be..
Tooth Delay: Nice! (and very wise words)
This new aggressiveness is very refreshing, considering how quiet they were on the advertising front for years. They have all their ducks in a row– it is time.
Another edict from Darth Jobs… so it is written, so it shall be done.
But, won’t make any difference. Hot dogs, baseball, apple pie, and Microsoft. Learn to live with it.
Mac and OS X market share – single digits now and forever.
The Tang better watch his back, cuz The Tang (and it’s impersonators) shall soon experience a slow and painful demise.
DOWN WITH THE TANG!
The leopard prowls.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”snake” style=”border:0;” />
@macFan: “…But in reality we will never gain a major % of the market unless the OS is readily available to the masses”
It already is. Pony up the dough and it’s yours.
Presumably you mean it’s not available on any p-o-s box that happened to fall off the back of a truck.
Presumably you mean it’s not available on any p-o-s box that happened to fall off the back of a truck.
Yeah Fanboy, every computer made except Macs are p-o-s!! WOOO HOOOO Fanboy… Mac are available to the Masses!!! WOOO HOOOO… I know a store that sells them only 320 miles from here!!!!!!!! I know all my neighbors will gladly drive for 6 hours to buy a Mac and ignore the 100 or so stores in this area that sells PCs…
Nice war you’re putting up… Yeah Fanboy,.WOOOO HOOOOO Macs!!!!
Reality – OSX will maintain a 5-10% market forever if Macs are the only computer it will run on…… Being a fan of Macs and a great OS is one thing… Living in a Fanboy fantasy is another…
Doesn’t matter –
Apple could stay right where it’s at in market share and I’d be happy as a bearded clam. M$ can play dirty, crank out second-rate software, muscle their way crudely into new markets, and continue to plague Wal-Mart shoppers with its cartoonish, poorly-designed OS – I’m not mad at Windows users, just perplexed that so many would make that choice.
I think you’re wrong, though. I think that Apple has laid the framework – with strong products, reputation, and retail presence – for a market share move that will be taught in future business textbooks.
Cumputers aren’t an oddity anymore. People have to spend a lot of time at their screens. The age when thinking people choose computers based on price is fading, and the age when people look for user experience is coming fast.
When the helpful Apple Store employee rings up your purchase on one of those handheld wireless devices, they are using Microsoft Windows to complete your transaction.
Why?
Not because Apple couldn’t make one, but because Apple has surrendered this market first to Palm and now to Microsoft. There is a market for handheld and small form factor computers & Apple needs to retake the handheld market.
i wonder when ferrari is going to release a car that will compete with the chevy cobalt? only THEN will ferrari gain the marketshare it needs to win!
the thing is, macs are in a different market SEGMENT. mac os x is what makes a mac a mac. think of it this way, too – and it has been said endless times before on these forums – if apple had to support every mickey mouse configuration that dell, hp, lenovo, not to mention the endless custom-built possibilities, they would have themselves quite a tech-support nightmare. apple’s tech support is constantly rated among the best because they only have to support five computer products – mac mini, imac, macbook, macbook pro and mac pro. it allows them to focus more effectively. those machines have subconfigurations, of course, but that’s nothing compared to supporting all the “beige-box” manufacturer’s many configs, PLUS all the custom boxes. the fact that apple controls the “whole widget” means that drivers that nvidia and ati submit for os x have to pass apple’s QC – which, i think most would agree, is quite a bit better than microsoft’s.
ah, rant over. it’s all been said before.
Mac Fan,
Your lack of intelligence is showing…
“Yeah Fanboy, every computer made except Macs are p-o-s!! WOOO HOOOO Fanboy…”
I paid $5 for an eMachines computer (and monitor) at a garage sale once. I paid too much. After disassembling it at home I discovered it housed the cheapest, no-name components on the planet. There were no drivers available for most of them for the current version of Windows. The person who sold it said it was massively infected with viruses and wouldn’t run fast enough to do email. They’d tried to clean it up, but it just got re-infected. P-O-S? Certainly!
“ Mac are available to the Masses!!! WOOO HOOOO… I know a store that sells them only 320 miles from here!!!!!!!! I know all my neighbors will gladly drive for 6 hours to buy a Mac and ignore the 100 or so stores in this area that sells PCs…”
And I guess Fed Ex doesn’t deliver and the Apple online store (and the internet)doesn’t reach your area?…ignorant!
“Nice war you’re putting up… Yeah Fanboy,.WOOOO HOOOOO Macs!!!!”
No, the war was over about a week ago when Vista was released…game, set, match!
“Reality – OSX will maintain a 5-10% market forever if Macs are the only computer it will run on…… Being a fan of Macs and a great OS is one thing… Living in a Fanboy fantasy is another…”
Hmmmm, iPods are the only devices that run iTunes…70% market share? Heard about that, have you? OS X market share has already grown from 3% to 6% in the last year. Mac sales are up about 40%. The industry average is about 15%. What does that tell you, Sparky?
Your lack of intelligence is showing…
YEAH Im stupid, on you fanboys have any intellegence.. The whole world is going to buy Macs mailorder and their going to take over the world…
You’re right, everyone is wrong.
Is it a beginning of a perfect storm ?
I have been thinking about all that has been happening lately with Vista, iPhone and Leopard and seem to come to the conclusion that this might just be the year for the Mac.
1. Does not seem like there is any sort of demand for Vista, but lets just take Microsoft’s rosy estimates and presume the best. If I want to upgrade and want the best of Vista I have to navigate between at least 4 consumer versions to know which one I want. Next comes installation, and seems like even Tech savvy people are having trouble installing it. Activation seems to be a bitch. If I make it through all that then there is the problem of incompatible hardware or inadequate hardware to get all the “WOW” features. So there now I have to go buy new hardware and get it installed. I am tech savvy but I will not install anything, so back to the store and some $$$ later now I have Vista (maybe). Oh I also have a lot of incompatible software. So I start using it and get the annoying list of popups while doing anything. By now I am probably going to just throw the computer and Vista out. So a question, can I just return Vista for a refund ? I sure hope so. Word of mouth is going to spread. No buzz just a buzz kill.
2. So lets just say that I just want to avoid all the hassles of upgrading and just want to buy a new computer preloaded with Vista. For all the high end features I am now looking at computers with prices approaching 1K. This is in the apple territory. Most people who have read reviews online about Vista (most haven’t been very glowing) now can justify making a choice based on price.
3. With leopard coming out in June (Would be nice if it came out in Apr) I am sure the reviews are going to be glowing. Probably a refresh of the entire Mac line. Hopefully by then Apple has also opened Apple Kiosks in almost all Best Buys and Circuit city. Suddenly bahm you can compare the sweet hardware and software of Apple with all the Me too Vista boxes.
4. Everything else that Apple sells is probably going to be refreshed by then and the iPhone released.
If the security Ad that Apple just released is a start of a Trend (in a good way) then we might just be on the beginning of The Perfect Storm.