“Last week’s Financial Times headline claiming that Google had overtaken Apple in U.S. education—based on data from IDC—was not just technically inaccurate but wildly misleading and served to obscure far more meaningful trends occurring in the PC market, particularly in education as well as the broader emerging segment of new computing form factors,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider.
“The Financial Times article, written by Matthew Garrahan and Tim Bradshaw, bizarrely claimed that ‘Apple has lost its longstanding lead over Google in U.S. schools,’ based entirely upon IDC estimates that stated the collective shipments of netbooks running Google’s Chrome OS to U.S. schools had surpassed Apple’s iPad sales by 13,500 units in the September quarter,” Dilger reports. “The authors actually admitted half way through their article that the headline was false, noting that ‘Apple retains a slight lead over Google’ when actually comparing the products both companies market to education. ”
Dilger reports, “Based on IDC’s reported numbers, Apple’s U.S. education sales of Mac and iPads were not only larger than the corresponding, combined shipments of Android and Chrome OS products, but the ‘slight lead’ Apple had over Google was a margin 172.6 percent greater than the unit differential that Garrahan and Bradshaw directed attention to in their article.”
“The reason why IDC is working so hard to promote Chromebooks as ‘gaining real traction’ is much easier to understand: Intel is heavily invested in leveraging Chromebooks to win back mobile market relevance from ARM, after having failed to gain any from Atom-based Android tablets or Windows netbooks,” Dilger reports. “Prepare to see a lot more ‘news’ reports about how a few million Chromebooks are dramatically shifting the market in ways that a quarter billion iPads haven’t, because there’s a lot of money on the line.”
Tons more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bill” for the heads up.]
Leave it to Daniel to set the record straight.
Thanks, Dan!
And for those that were curious (as I was), IDC is a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), a technology media, research, and event company.
Kept thinking “Does the I stand for Intel or something OR do they have holdings in Intel?”
Gaagle’s immoral business tactics @ work. Deceit, lies…. throw in more deceit, ad in some more bribes, layer on some FUD & you get the most corrupt American Company next to ENRON that has ever existed.
Thank you MDN for keeping the information wars on track!!!
Gee, I guess Apple isn’t doomed after all !!!!!
To quote an infamous politician, “What difference does it make?”
It’s too late – the story is already out there.
The stock manipulation over “failed iPads,” unavailable iPhone 6 Pluses, ancient MacBook Airs, second place finishing Apple Watches, Apple’s Lost Innovation, Steven Jobs’ death, Steve Jobs’ monopolistic iPod practices and, of course, the meteoric rise of Chromebooks has already begun. This will drop AAPL’s value in the run up to the Christmas quarter, which will be awesome, but less than analysts wild guesstimates. Ming will announce that iWatch manufacturing will be delayed until the second quarter of 2015 and AAPL will plummet on news of record growth, more buyback and higher dividends.
If any other company had any one line that sold like the iPad and revolutionized a shift in the marketplace, they would be deemed an Apple Killer and be crowned the new king. The think is that Apple owns mobile stronger than Microsoft ever owned the PC. Hardware, software, ecosystem, design and incredible innovaton, combined with patience, tons of free PR, outstanding management and a huge user base, guarantees Apple’s future success, despite the weird status of hype machines like IDC and the Financial Times.
My grandson in grade school bought a Chromebook with his own money through school. A short time later he wanted an iPad, so I knew these guys were lying.
The school should be sued for child abuse.
This is just like when tabloid newspapers print defaming stories about people to sell their copies and then print retractions on page 8 in the smallest print. The original message had impact and the correction will fall on deaf ears.
The goal for IDC and Gartner are for clients to buy the reports. Their clients want a certain viewpoint and they get want they pay for.
So sad.
Apple just cannot seem to do anything right lately. /s
I think the biggest issue with devices in education is that the online tools and electronic books are still evolving.
My daughter is having to spend quite a lot of money on these at college only to find that the lecturer is not even going to use them or doesn’t think they are any good.
We are in a period where the transition to electronic books and eduction aids is ongoing and a lot still has to be learned how to be the most effective.
Insightful! Thank you. 🙂
Not surprising for one particular course to not make use of the device, but she surely has 4 – 6 courses per semester. Hopefully by the conclusion of her education she’ll have gotten good use. Depends on the devices, I guess.
The real aggravation I had (back in the olden days) was when course after course was taught without making use of the $100+ textbook that was supposedly required.
Educators themselves need to wrap their heads around technology to make it useful and they traditionally are not known for that. Maybe a newer and younger tech savvy class of teachers will.
Educate the educators!!
That sounds awfully similar to education’s problem with text books.
I saved a lot in college by not buying anything for class until about the second week in. By waiting for professor to actually say what’s they are really going to use, I avoided many unnecessary purchases, at the price of not having the right material during the first couple classes. Many of my classmates bought overpriced books that were never actually, and often could not even sell them back because they got replaced by new editions at the semester’s end.
Its too late for this now! The heading of the article was all over the internet and that is now what people think is that Chromebook is winning over the iPad now.
The vast majority of buyers don’t read this crap and if a school system does due diligence it won’t matter what was published Financial Times.
SO! Technical and market analysis is now all about:
1) LYING
2) SELF-PROMOTION
3) MISLEADING READERS
4) PREDATORY FINANCIAL GAIN
5) BY-ANY-MEANS-AVAILABLE MARKETING
6) BLATANT UNPROFESSIONALISM
It’s time for a crime sheet.
Crook #1: IDC
Crook #2: Matthew Garrahan of Financial Times
Crook #3: Tim Bradshaw of Financial Times.
I’m proud to know you Dan.
Yes but Daniel had better watch his back. There is a pattern of motorcycle “accidents” accompanying major exposés
Dan often just re-presents in a logical format the same data the big money-parasite firms are distorting. Funny how these firms with thousands of analysts on the payroll can get simple arithmetic problems horribly wrong over and over again. Aren’t there laws against false advertising in the USA? Ah, yes, Federal Laws and State
(WP) While the terms “false” and “deceptive” are essentially the same for most, being deceptive is not the same as producing deception. What is illegal is the potential to deceive, which is interpreted to occur when consumers see the advertising to be stating to them, explicitly or implicitly, a claim that they may not realize is false and material.
And you:re surpised? 😀
I did notice the disclaimer that Apple’s products were still in greater abundance in schools than Google. However every story following that one echoed the same thing about Apple losing schools business to Google.
iPad are also relatively new to the primary and secondary education system. Of the quarter billion iPad quoted above how many have been actually purchased by the educational system which is the focus of this topic? I agree that the IDC title is misleading but it would also be misleading to say that those quarter billion are all due to educational system purchases. It seems to me that due to the limited resources of the educational system and the still current need for typing skills purchasing chromebooks is still much more cost effective than iPads and wireless keyboards. Yes, the iPad has a soft keyboard but that would take up precious screen real estate.
“Apple losing” — this is exactly the kind of tech story picked up by local newscasters, unwittingly spreading the FUD. Retractions of such stories, however, are not regarded as newscast-worthy, so the false impressions remain. — Thus they are double-edged tools of shadowy manipulators.
When all you have to sell is junk no one wants, you have to do whatever you can to make a sale. But that only works for so long. Ask Samsung.