“Microsoft’s introduction of Windows 7 later this month won’t cost Apple any Mac sales, a Wall Street analyst said today,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld.
“‘I analyzed the impact of the last four Windows launches and found no negative correlation between them and Mac sales,’ said Brian Marshall of Broadpoint AmTech. ‘In fact, [Microsoft’s launches] almost act like a delayed accelerant on Mac sales,'” Keizer reports.
“After comparing Mac sales with the launches of Windows 98 in June 1998, Windows 2000 (February 2000), Windows XP (October 2001) and Vista (January 2007), Marshall found that in all but the case of Windows 2000, Mac sales either increased or stayed steady,” Keizer reports.
“Mac sales jumped the most after Vista’s introduction, according to Marshall’s analysis, which many experts attributed to some Windows users’ switching to Macs after they were disappointed by Vista’s poor performance or put off by its lackluster reviews,” Keizer reports.
“Apple will announce sales figures for the calendar quarter that ended Sept. 30 next Monday during a conference call with reporters and analysts,” Keizer reports. “Marshall expects that Apple will then claim it sold approximately 2.8 million Macs in the July-September quarter, which would represent a 7% increase over the same period last year.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “souch3” for the heads up.]
Boy I bet all those companies that spent a fortune to move to Vista are really pleased with Microsoft now. Shows what happens when you follow them every release. That said, Windows 7 does sound like an improvement over Vista. A shame it still relies on the same legacy design flaws like the registry and integrated browser.
‘In fact, [Microsoft’s launches] almost act like a delayed accelerant on Mac sales,’
Gosh, whyever would that be?
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Even though we make fun of Windows 7, I think it will be Microsoft’s next “good enough” version of Windows. In other words, it will steadily replace Windows XP to become the dominant version of Windows.
However, since most Windows users currently still using XP, and there is a significant procedural and hardware obstacle in upgrading from XP to 7, most of the conversion to 7 will happen as Windows XP users replace their aging PCs. So Apple will still have an excellent opportunity to convince users to “Get a Mac” instead of another PC.
In fact, the release of Windows 7 will probably accelerate the replacement of old XP computers; hopefully, Apple is ready to take advantage with new marketing angles. And Microsoft should be advised NOT to run any more commercials that actually remind customers that they should drop by the “Mac Store” and at least consider getting a Mac. Microsoft needs these XP users to blindly buy their next PC with Windows 7, and not even think about the existence of Macs.
Hah, you’re so right. Just by mentioning Apple Microsoft give legitimacy to the fact that Apples OS is good enough to compete and thus is worth giving serious consideration to.
I personally hope for more Microsoft Ads to highlight Apples quality.
P.S. Don’t mention the Guest Login bug though, still doesn’t stack up against 120k plus viruses. My personal favourite is the 20mins of downloading updates before I can do any work when using XP in Parallels. It’s just like an extended bootup from hell.
The only people who will buy a lame MAC despite Windows 7’s positive reviews and magnificent innovation are the losers who weren’t invited to a Windows 7 release party. Go ahead. Lash out at a cruel world that won’t include you in the most fantastic software release party ever! Mine’s gonna be a blowout. Grandma just confirmed she’s bringing her world famous oatmeal cookies. Suck it, MAC dorks.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Good post, Zune Tang. I thought that was really funny. Yes, the Window 7 release party is a key factor, of course – that’s brilliant.
I actually feel sad that Apple released Snow Leopard without the previous Big Cat fanfare. I went to the Apple Store on release day and all I got was this stink’in T… well, no. I didn’t even get a T-shirt this time! Oh well, I suppose paying $29 is better… I’ll take good care of my Leopard T-Shirt.
I have had your Grandma’s oatmeal cookies. I think they were made with Portland cement and lard. Several of them are still working as braces keeping my door open.
“no negative correlation”? Do you mean positive correlation. I love how Windows launches increase Mac sales.
@ Gabriel
Step 1: Place Mac on seesaw
Step 2: Place chair in front of Ballmer
Step 3: Tell Ballmer Windows 7 doubled Google’s market cap overnight
Step 4: …
Step 5: The Mac accelerates skyward! (thank goodness for unibody construction)
“bet all those companies that spent a fortune to move to Vista”
Pretty much nobody moved to Vista in the corporate world. No big companies that I have ever heard of. Even before Vista was known to be a disaster corporations said it offered no business value worth massive hardware upgrades, retraining users and support staff, and redoing support tools and processes. Al of that is a very big, disruptive, costly, and time consuming task. Guess what the corporate world is saying about Windows 7? Same thing. It offers no business value over the archaic Windows XP. On the other hand I have consulted at Motorola, Cisco, and Oracle over the last few years and all of them offer at least their IT staff and management the option of Mac laptops and they are loving it.
‘Suck it, Mac dorks?!’
How old is this sociopath- nine? Ten?
@ HMCIV – LOL! Taking the phrase “Microsoft’s launches” literally, I see… “thank goodness for unibody construction” indeed!
Microsoft learned a lot from the mistakes that led to all the bad reviews for the vista launch. This time will be different; they have invested much more heavily in the reviewers.
OK, so my turn to propose an “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ad:
John Hodegeman as PC appears double; one character an old man version, the other as young as possible (like the New Years baby & old man?)
Justin Long as Mac asks him what’s up.
PC explains he moving from XP to Win7, it’s so difficult, such a pain, etc. Moaning and groaning.
Mac goes on about how painless it is to move your stuff when you get a new Mac. He also says how if you buy a Mac, a Mac genius will transfer your stuff from your old PC to your new Mac – FOR FREE!!!
PC groans some more.
End.
@ZT
“Grandma just confirmed she’s bringing her world famous oatmeal cookies. Suck it, MAC dorks.”
I hope your party doesn’t turn out like Grandmas Boy scenes. GILF anyone? ewwww.
auramac
It’s “Suck it, MAC dorks.” Always a capital MAC.
Preordered Windows 7 last week, and I am pretty excited to be running it. I know it won’t get nearly as much use as Snow Leopard, but I think it will be a really great operating system.
The ONLY thing I do not like about windows Vista or 7 is the current UI scheme. The borders around windows and the “translucency” really distracts me…
Who cares. Let them buy Win7 and buy a Mac (laptop) to run it on. Apple still gets the hardware sale.
Sooner or later they will erase the Windows partition because they are using the OS X side more and more.
I bet Mac laptops run Windows the fastest and are the best looking.
@auramac…
he’s seven.
Windows 7 may be an improvement over Vista. I don’t know.What I do know is that Snow Leopard has been the worst upgrade(downgrade)Apple has ever released for my iMac and MBP. Printers no longer work right. Mail acts weird. Won’t let me delete trash, etc. Don’t know what other programs won’t work, afraid to check. Why did I do the MPB after I saw the result on the iMac? Hope springs eternal as they say. Nobody loves macs more than I do, but come on people! Snow Leopard messed everything up. Apple, CLEAN IT UP!
auramac
you’re a homo!
lol do you people not get that Zune Tang is being facetious?
fa⋅ce⋅tious [fuh-see-shuhs]
adjective
1. not meant to be taken seriously or literally: a facetious remark.
2. amusing; humorous.
3. lacking serious intent; concerned with something nonessential, amusing, or frivolous: a facetious person.
Delta,
Something is not right with your particular configuration, and there is a strong chance it isn’t Apple’s fault. Some third party utilities, perhaps?
You may have seen it already, Snow Leopard is the OS with the fastest adoption rate in history (Mac, Windows or otherwise). Apparently 1/3 of Mac users have migrated to Snow Leopard within first MONTH of its release. That would make it many millions of users. While a very, very small, minuscule number is having issues (like yourself), vast majority are incredibly thrilled with performance improvements (boot times, shut down times, app launch times, finder speed, etc), as well as minor UI enhancements (yours truly included).
There is really nothing for Apple to clean up. One could actually argue that this was one of the smoothest upgrade steps between Mac OS versions.
I’m sorry to hear of your trouble. Perhaps dedicating weekend to re-installing OS from scratch and downloading fresh printer drivers would help?
Silverhawk, the Windows IT types always call Macs either “mac” or “MAC,” denoting their lack of typing and language skills.
I have complained that MAC means Move, Add, and Change but to no avail.
“Grandma just confirmed she’s bringing her world famous oatmeal cookies.”
Hilarious!
I love your end “kickers”.
I’m still laughing!!!
(You kill me.)