“There’s been a distinct sea change in the way people think about Apple in the last few weeks,” Leander Kahney reports for Wired News.
“Recently, people have been saying the strangest things about Apple and the Mac. Everything is topsy-turvy. Pundits aren’t trotting out the old conventional wisdoms any more. They’re saying odd stuff, like Macs are good for business; Macs can save money; and that Apple’s stock — at $90 a share — is a bargain,” Kahney reports.
Kahney reports, “In fact, there seems to be a widespread re-evaluation of Apple going on, a cultural shift that’s changing the way people think about the company. It’s been building for a while but it has reached a tipping point in the last couple of months. Here’s what people are saying now.”
• Macs will save you money
• Macs are good for business
• Less is more
• Closed is good
• Apple is the darling of Wall Street
• Macs can run more applications
Kahney writes, “The change in perception seems to have been tipped by the iPhone. A lot of people thought Apple got lucky with the iPod: It was a one-hit wonder, a fluke not likely to be repeated. But the iPhone is already starting to look like another industry-changing smash hit, and it’s shining a different light on the company… Apple is very clearly looking like a serial innovator: a company that can successfully trot out one big product after another. This has been generally true since the iMac in 1998, but now the wider public is catching on. What’s changed is not Apple, but people’s perceptions of the company.”
Full article, with explanations of the bullet points above, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Chris M.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
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InfoWorld: 9,000 people switch to Apple Mac every day (plus testing ‘Embrace and Extinguish’) – February 28, 2007
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A Windows expert opts for a Mac life, finds the experience ‘superb’ – December 07, 2006
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Those with any clue knew long ago that the iPod wasn’t a one-hit wonder. Between Mac OS X, the iMac, etc., Apple has had many, many hits.
Hey, you got “tipping point” in my “Beleaguered Dell”!
They do taste great together.
The straw that broke the camel’s back, the stone that started the avalanche.. it’s starting!!
Yeah. We makin’ a mainstream comeback!
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@wandering joe,
How about the silver bullet – two in a row [iPod, iPhone].
By this time next year things in the pc world are going to be different, I can feel it in me bones.
• Closed is good
It’s not that closed is bad, it’s that a machine that’s too open is bad.
The more open it is, the more things can go wrong with it.
Apple’s Mac towers always have been open for the professional user.
It’s mostly the user level machines, where people tend to get into trouble messing with the insides, that Apple has closed up.
Having worked fixing people’s machines, I can understand why.
Apple always have moved in a direction where their machines can be modular, but user replaceable.
If you read the reviews of the article, we still have a long way to go,
similar subject
One thing I do not see discussed about is the pricing of Macs, (more expensive).
I read somewhere, about how Macs have an average use of 3 years compared to 2 years for a wintel box, antbody shed some light on that
Wow, this could be big. Anyone in marketing knows that perception is more important than realitiy. The Mac has been perceived as “expensive” since it’s inception in 1984.
Mac evangelists are constantly frustrated because they’ve known forever that the Mac is a better value. But that’s irrelevent. Value is only valuable if it’s perceived.
If the idea that the Mac is a good “value” is truly seeping into the mainstream…well, the ramifications are enourmous.
Yeah, it’s great that people are f-i-n-a-l-l-y waking up. But a lot of the Roughly Drafted stuff makes me think that Apple (well, Jobs at least) have ALWAYS been this innovative – they just got ignored by the computer industry, often with the help of the arseholes of the industry (M$). I’m thinking of the Quicktime and NeXT stories in particular. Oh well, at least now we won’t have to put up with as much idiotic bullshit from PC users.
There is a way to go yet, but this is still just an emerging phenomenon. While the tide has been building, these sentiments are now just becoming mainstream. Now we get to watch as peoples’ minds continue to change as the media incessantly drums into their skulls what they want them to know. Pay close attention– media has a huge influence on peoples’ opinions. The wave will continue to grow. At some point, crest, then POW!
(no more caffeine, I promise)
“Macs have an average use of 3 years compared to 2 years for a wintel box”
Personally, I think it’s more like 5 to 2.
“Oh well, at least now we won’t have to put up with as much idiotic bullshit from PC users.”
Actually, I think the stubborn holdouts and IT weenies (and people who are too lazy to learn something new) will become more shrill in the future. It’s going to get nasty. But, I see your point. I think you mean because Mac will be viewed as a viable platform by many more people. The next two years should be interesting.
Excerpts from “Roughly Drafted”:
PCs have a short life span, and a large percentage–around half, according to IDC–are sold to businesses that dutifully recycle them at regular intervals.
Among home users, the epidemic of Windows malware and viruses prompts most users to just dump their existing PC and buy a new one rather than spend hundreds of dollars on tech support to clean it up and keep it working.
Maintaining a PC costs professional users around five times as much as a Mac.
1. •Apple extends support for older machines far longer with its operating system software.
2. •Older Macs are faster running a newer version of Mac OS X; older PCs can’t even run the latest Windows.
3. •It is easier to support and maintain older Macs; older PCs rapidly become more expensive to maintain.
4. •Older Macs retain a high resale value, older PCs actually have a negative value after the recycling fees.
In studying the history of PC purchases made by a client with around a hundred employees, I found the company was still using all of their original Macs dating back to 2001, with a few even older Macs still in secondary use.
In contrast, there were no PCs more than three years old still in use, and most of the older models were in poor shape.
It was simply cheaper to throw them out and buy new PCs. The resale value for those three year old PCs was basically zero.
Their Dell systems cost on average around $1500, but struggled to last for three years. Their Mac systems were closer to $2000, but were useful for six years or more and required less support, making them a better value.
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/9E601E8E-2ACC-4866-A91B-3371D1688E00.html
I wonder how far along we would be if Apple had made the switch to Intel processors at the same time it purchased NeXT? Would Vista have been even MORE still-born! Would we be at 10-15% market share already?
” What’s changed is not Apple, but people’s perceptions of the company.””
Truer words have never been spoken.
“Macs have an average use of 3 years compared to 2 years for a wintel box”
Macs can easily stay more productive longer than typical wintel boxes. My example:
I purchased a G4 450MP in 2000. When the G5s came out, I moved the G4 to server duty, and with the addition of OS X Server software it was the main file server for my small ad agency (lot’s of heavy duty file serving) until a week ago when it finally died (more like started showing signs of dementia). That’s 7 years of nearly 24/7 operation. Just about all my macs have seen this hand-me-down or re-purposing experience, so in my experience the average Mac useful life is 5 years.
@Holy Mackerel:
I don’t believe that that would be the case. If you look back to 1997 and trace the product announcements that Apple made, you can reasonably argue that Apple back then did not have the prequisites prior to the transition to intel. I believe the strongest point that Apple made was by introducing the products one at a time with each introduction, the product being more robust than that compared to a windows product. Now, you can see, or at least make an educated guess as to where Apple might be heading–for me, it’s going North (both in stock price, attack on Redmond, and the future). My .02c.
MDN: enough of the ads already! This site is getting harder and harder to read. Putting ads in text ereas does not help with legibility. Apple is all about good design. How about you design this site better?
I think it would be tactical and practical if Apple ran ads in the style of negative political campaign ads.
Clips of a sweaty Ballmer and chirping Gates lying their Fester and Turtle Boy asses off. Then, freeze frame and run refuting textovers, media quotes and voiceovers exposing the FUD.
The iPhone is not even out, how can this guy say that affects anything????
All we have seen is a hyped demo unit.
TV Boy: It’s called reputation and past history.
@TV Boy Common Sense: “The iPhone is not even out, how can this guy say that affects anything????
All we have seen is a hyped demo unit.”
Falkirk: Again, it’s not about reality, it’s about perception. The iphone – which doesn’t even exist – has created a huge buzz for Apple. An earlier article stated that Jobs Macworld announcement had generated 400 million in free advertising.
Remember, Apple hasn’t changed. Only the pereption of Apple has changed.
Wow! (yes, pun intended with that one)
This guy is saying all the things that I have been preaching to my friends and family for the last 5 years (and even more vehemently since Tiger was released).
My favorite bit from the article:
“It’s absolutely clear now why five years from now, Apple will have 3 (percent) to 5 percent of the player market,” Rob Glaser, CEO of Apple rival RealNetworks, told The New York Times in 2003 while cramming handfuls of Krispy Kreme donuts into his blubbery, gaping maw. “The history of the world is that hybridization yields better results.”
Okay, I added the bit about the donuts. Still, sucks to be him, huh?
Duz this mean the stock’s goin up?