“It’s very easy to take a look at Apple’s stellar fourth quarter and conclude that the long-awaited iPod ‘halo effect’ is in full swing and move onto something more pressing, like handicapping the World Series,” Tom Krazit reports for CNET.
“The iPod often gets the credit for increased Mac shipments, described as the “halo effect” over past years. The thinking is that iPod customers, having enjoyed their iPod experience and having seen Apple in a new light, might be more inclined to pick up a Mac while shopping for a new iPod case and realizing their old PC is woefully out of date,” Krazit reports.
“But despite the recent results, it’s still just not that simple. Apple said during its earnings conference call that half of the customers who bought Macs at its retail store last quarter were new Mac owners. Viewed against total Mac shipments of 2.2 million during the quarter, that’s actually not all that many brand-new Mac users,” Krazit reports.
“Apple sold 473,000 Macs at its retail stores. That means we’re talking about something like 200,000 people last quarter who were new to the Mac–assuming some number of people bought multiple Macs to send the twins off to college–and the rest are Mac veterans upgrading to a new Macbook or one of the new iMacs,” Krazit reports. “Obvious as it may seem, it’s really hard to quantify the halo effect. Believe me, I’ve just spent the last several hours trying.”
“It would be silly to say the iPod has had no effect on the way Apple is viewed by the public. Anyway you slice it, the iPod contributed to a more positive impression of the company among those who hadn’t always supported Apple as a matter of principle,” Krazit reports. “But I’m not convinced that you can draw a direct line between iPods and Macs… I think more people are buying Macs because there is no longer a penalty for switching to a Mac. After all, you can run Windows on a Mac, open and edit Word documents in Mac OS, and you probably spend most of your time on one Web page or another that doesn’t care what operating system is in control.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jollywog” for the heads up.]
It’s not really that difficult. Either Apple’s iPod “halo effect” has just begun and is not yet in full effect or it’s weaker than some might have expected. That’s okay – there are better ways to sell a Mac. The iPod’s main benefit with regard to a “halo effect” is to assure people that Apple is financially healthy and will be here for the long run (in case 30+ years in business isn’t enough assurance).
Also, as OS X-based multi-touch iPods and iPhones get people used to that UI, when Apple brings out their multi-touch Mac tablet and introduces multi-touch elements into the Mac, then you’ll start to see a real “halo effect.” (If Apple isn’t working on a device or a whole line of devices that bridge between the iPhone and MacBook that utilize the multi-touch UI, then they should be. We think they are working on it, as it’s far too obvious for them not to be doing so.)
The general public is beyond brainwashed that Windows is necessary. Windows is only necessary in cases where you want – or are forced – to use some particular application because some developer (usually Microsoft) has decided not to support/not fully support the Mac. In all other cases, if the applications exist for Mac, then Apple Mac is the better choice for personal computer users: it’s more secure, more stable, and more fun than Windows. If Windows did not have “lock-in” via IT departments deploying Microsoft stuff (that just happens to force the use of Windows, those clever Redmond devils) and if a few other developers (Autodesk with AutoCAD and game developers, anyone?) made Mac versions, then Windows simply has no reason to exist besides providing the ultimate platform for Antivirus, Anti-spyware, and anti-this/anti-that peddlers and driving people into various states of maddening frustration.
Windows has been, from its inception, and remains today, a badly-executed fake Mac designed to run on commodity hardware because Macs used to be too expensive for the average Joe. This is no longer the case. Macs are price competitive and offer an OS and Mac-only applications that are without peer.
Windows’ time has passed. Most people just haven’t figured it out, yet. If you want proof, just walk into any Best Buy and ask people why they’re plunking down their credit cards for truly horrid pieces of junk Windows PCs when OS-unlimited and vastly superior Macs are sitting right there being ignored by them. They’ll almost always tell you they “need Windows.”
Apple needs to do a much better job informing the public the fact that Macs can run Windows natively and/or via fast virtualization and get on with the process of embracing Windows in order to ultimately extinguish it. Pound the message repeatedly, Apple, and you will sell more Macs than you can imagine! “Macs run Windows, too, and you get two computers for the price of one,” is a hugely easier sell than banging your head against the wall for years (as Apple used to do and sometimes still does) trying to explain to people that they don’t need Windows. The brainwashing by Microsoft, analysts, and the media is so complete that average consumers will not even listen.
By embracing the brainwashing and using it to their advantage, Apple can sell many more Macs. After all, people who try both Macs and WIndows PCs overwhelmingly choose Macs. It’s the people who’ve never really used a Mac that repeatedly run to Best Buy every other year for their Windows PC punch in the face.
Viewed against total Mac shipments of 2.2 million during the quarter, that’s actually not all that many brand-new Mac users
Yeah, but that’s only for one quarter. Apple has been saying for years that half its Apple Store customers are new to Mac, and as Mac sales rise, so does the number of new users.
Really does seem the worlds their Oyster especially when you compare Apples Seamless technology to the mediocrity of WMA/V where everyday seems a foggy one, especially if attempting to view HD in Vista, where the zune looks about cutting edge as a cd walkman and where zune market place purchases are apparently made in some form of proprietary corn flakes.
MDN word ‘will’ as in:
How much longer can Steve Ballmer seriously retain the will to live.
…it’s the biggest happiest store in the mall.
That’s a nice image…
So, I was thinking about switching to Windows and needed to catch up on some reading.
…nevermind…
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@MDN – y’all are crazy – the halo effect has nothing to do with convincing people Apple isn’t going out of business.
@Jonathan – you are 100% right
I, too, believe the Halo effect exists.
It allows people to experience how great Apple products are.
It is like great advertising – it won’t lead you to drop everything, run to the store and buy a Mac but it will open your mind to consider a Mac.
You could say that iPods are gateway products
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My first Apple product was an iPod shuffle – I now own a 1GB shuffle, 30GB iPod Video, 2 Macbooks, iPhone, 2 airport extremes and have an iMac on order.
“”Apple sold 473,000 Macs at its retail stores. That means we’re talking about something like 200,000 people last quarter who were new to the Mac–assuming some number of people bought multiple Macs to send the twins off to college–and the rest are Mac veterans upgrading to a new Macbook or one of the new iMacs,” “
so out of 2.2 million, only 200,000 are new users, because you see ALL the new Mac users buy at an Apple store. there has never in the history of the world been a new user who bought online or at another store…..
seen in another way, if only .4 million of the 2.2 million where sold at the retail store, but 100% of new Mac owners bought at the retail store, those are some odd shopping habits.
Your first mistake was buying the Sony. Sony thrives on proprietary technology.
The demo at the keynote was done without a video camera, he just mentioned the new cameras with AVCHD, and the camera actually mentioned was a Panasonic, not a Sony.
My transition to the Mac came after (5) years of owning a Dell desktop. I bought it knowing nothing about computers (sound familiar?). During that time, and still, I listened to our local computer call in show ( Sound-bytes WHAM 1180, Rochester,N.Y.) they contiually blasted Windows security vulnerabilities, and predicted more of the same for Vista. I now have a great Mac desktop, to which I added (1) anti virus program to protect my e-mail recipients.
sooo insightful – you’ll love it:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5127817201181191495&q=vista
I’ve been a Mac user since there’s been a Mac. It’s always upset me that Apple never has really effectively advertised their computers. Yes there have been ads, but way to style oriented and not enough– I see far more artificial knee ads then Apple. Put out the trueth Apple– iMacs look good and can run any application that can run on a personnel computer–they are not just for artist and photo enthusist. Also it would be great if they made an iMac for the business world, one that the support team can open and replace hard-drives and graphics boards– they wont sell to the enterprise world until they can satisfy the support guys. Apple needs to attack on all fronts now with $10B in the bank and monentum going.
@ktodack: I agree 100%…there is a 2 fold problem…1. the IT guys are mostly MS trained so to introduce them to a UNIX based OS and they would have to learn how to support multiple OS’s – how horrifying they would actually have to learn what computer security is rather than run this or that application to harden there box. 2. Second problem Apple MS Business unit would stop producing MS. Office, the bread and butter of corporations – yes there is iWorks, Openoffice etc.. but it just doesn’t cut it.
What apple needs to do is run wine a variant aka virtualization, then they can claim that they run windows apps better than windows – wouldn’t that be kick butt. Just imagine in a future advertisement a Mac next to a PC and you see the windows app running on a mac smoking the windows app on a windows box.
You know MS didn’t take the business from IBM overnight…and apple if they play their cards right and continue infiltrate the consumer market then the consumers will ripple there macs into the business segment…
@Tony: Just can’t understand how Apple can keep ignoring the business-enterprise segment. Apple has the smarts to answer all of the past corperate reluctance to Macintosh. Now that Apple is stuffing their computers with common Intel processors, hard drives and graphics it can finally compete price wise with Dell and HP. IT really don’t need to understand UNIX that much–99-99/100 of user problems have something to do with Apple system problems– bad preferrence file etc, they would have to learn the ins and outs of supporting System 10.x, a whole lot easier then UNIX. After all IT people are not expected to write code. Yes a little knowledge of UNIX if they need to use the terminal, but these occasions come up rarely. Apple just needs to produce a Mac case with the form factor of the iMac but accessability to the guts so the IT guys can say they can replace major components like HD and graphics.