“Apple’s new 21-inch iMac was October’s best-selling desktop computer, according to retail analyst firm NPD. While sexy, the sales success was partially due to a slowdown in sales of competing PCs prior to the launch of Windows 7,” Jonathan Salem Baskin blogs for InformationWeek.
Baskin writes, “No it wasn’t.”
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, we’re gonna like this…
Baskin continues, “Nowadays, things need only happen concurrently to be connected; trends cross space and time via the Internet so that they appear not just parallel but inexorably intertwined. Much of what passes for analysis today requires no tangibly real proof of cause and effect other than that two topics can be surfed during the same online session.”
“It’s silly to presume that people bought iMacs because retailers were clearing out inventory prior to Windows 7. If anything, any clearance efforts on Vista boxes would have been a competitive pressure on Apple, meaning that its success was greater (selling in spite of redlined PCs),” Baskin writes. “If consumers were waiting for Windows 7, that wouldn’t have translated into Apple sales whatsoever; it would have depressed overall PC sales, though I have trouble believing that the vast numbers of Wintel boxes and retail outlets were so badly hit by new OS anticipation to make Apple’s sales numbers shine so much better.”
“The causality of consumer choice drove 21-inch iMac sales, and I’d guess it boiled down to very specific factors like functionality, in-store experience, and price,” Baskin writes. “Any schlub can see connections where none exist, and it makes for a fun read when analysts make these grand, expansive declarations from high above. But it’s usually a description of a theory, at best, and a fantasy, more often. The causes of Apple’s success have everything to do with what Apple does better, more creatively, authentically, and consistently than its competition. I think Microsoft or its hardware partners don’t fully understand this phenomenon. It’s what dooms them to suffering its effects.”
Full article – very highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Every once in a while, the searing truth burns through brightly. Jonathan Salem Baskin is a global brand strategist, is the author of Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs: The Year in Marketing Buzz, Brilliance & Buffoonery, So You Don’t Have To Repeat It — 2010 Edition, and writes the Dim Bulb blog. Bookmark it if you haven’t already.
On the other hand, The Street refers to “all the recent good news from Microsoft.” Meaning?
The 7ista service pack? Already beset with troubles. Besides almost no-one has specifically bought it; they just are afflicted with it when they get their cheap junk pcs.
The msft retail stores? Gimme a break.
Beating the quarterly numbers? The numbers were guided way down by msft, apparently so they could “beat” them, however the numbers actually reveal a company in year-over-year decline , who is laying off while Apple’s hiring. If msft is also cutting their R&D;budget, it means fewer blockbusters like the surface, the Dick Tracey watch, and the refrigerator reader.
Yeah, that’s their good news, and the Mac only sold because 7ista was coming. Welcome to the frontiers of internet journalism.
I just bought my first mac, it was the 21″, plus the one on one for $99.00.
I love it. The service is great.Even my IT guy admitted it’s much better then a windows com.
@Macaday
Have you not read Ampar’s posts? I have always been amazed (and appreciative) of his (her? lol) wit. At times it is simply brilliant. When I skim through comments I screech to a halt when I see his name knowing that the ensuing laugh will inevitably come. May he and Steve Ballmer live forever (my poor attempt at wit….no offense meant).
As for C1…many of us here love her feistiness while not forgetting her wit and ability to take and give a punch….and too many a-holes insecure with their pathetic lives have stupidly and sadly thrown these punches (like Macin’ Dude).
I for one consider myself lucky to be able to read their comments….which will hopefully continue for many years to come!
Sorry…got set off on a rant and forgot my original comment….
‘I’m likin this Jonathan Salem Baskin dude’….telling it like it is regarding these dime-store analysts? Refreshing!
I sent my mom to the Apple store to buy a $999 laptop–she bought this beauty instead. She has no idea that she owns, by far, the fastest computer and the largest hard drive ever seen in our family. But she does love it.
And it just sucked in the settings and apps from her old mac… like… like a mac.
@Micro Me
@Buster
Good posts.
I hope C1 posts more often.
This is why there are so many ass clown anal-ists like Jim Kramer making money hand over fist. Because amateur investors believe anything is a coincidence. Jim Kramer could observe a turtle and a used tire, then claim tortoise shell rubber belts are going to the next rage in fashion..and the E-trade-Fool crowd goes crazy buying fashion stocks.
just my $0.02
My ears are just BURNIN’!
It’s good to be loved, it truly is. And I love you all right back. =)
-c
Thanks, Snow Leopard, Micro Me, Buster and Jim.
“Yeah, . . . we like Ampar, . . . but we LOVE Chrissyone.”
Works for me. Thanks!
And Macaday, sometimes sarcasm doesn’t work and sometimes it’s just subjective?