“Why has the iPod been so successful? Partly it’s because Apple has been able to parlay its device into a must-have fashion accessory. Unlike its Macintosh computers, which are excellent but expensive, the iPod is an affordable luxury, one that young professionals and even students–or at least their parents–can afford. As Steve Jobs said during a recent special event marking the release of new iPod models, ‘iPod has become a cultural phenomenon.’ And he’s right: Sometimes products transcend their market categories and reach into the public consciousness at a much deeper than would normally be considered possible,” Paul Thurrott writes for WinInfo.
“Clearly, the iPod is such a product. This situation makes it difficult for competitors like Dell, Rio, or even Creative, which arguably created this market, to make inroads with other products. Consumers aren’t asking for portable audio players under the Christmas tree this holiday season, they’re asking for iPods. And a Dell DJ or Creative Zen Whatever isn’t going to cut it. Any parent or other gift-giver who believes otherwise simply doesn’t get understand the emotional connection Apple has been able to create between the tiny white devices and their owners,” Thurrott writes.
“One area where the success of the iPod has not translated into other successes is Apple’s long languishing Macintosh computer line. Though Apple had hoped that a swell of iPod customers would result in higher sales of the pricey but elegant Mac, that has not been the case. According to Gartner, Mac worldwide market share fell to 1.8 percent in the most recent quarter, down from 2.1 percent in the same quarter a year ago (annual market share figures for Apple placed Mac market share at 1.7 percent for calendar year 2003). In the US, Apple’s Mac market share dropped from 3.6 percent to 3.2 percent in the same time period,” Thurrott writes.
“Why has the Mac failed where the iPod succeeded? Curiously, it seems that the pundits–and I’ll count myself among this group–were wrong about one crucial aspect of Apple’s strategy with the iPod. We’ve been saying that Apple has been making the same mistakes with the iPod that it did with the Mac by keeping the system proprietary and not working with others. But it’s now clear that the market for the Mac and that for the iPod cannot be so simply compared. Today, the Mac is an excellent computer, but it doesn’t offer much value over Wintel-based systems, and is correspondingly too expensive, both in out of pocket costs and in the cost of migrating to a new computer platform. Computers like the Mac typically cost $1000 to $3000, which is beyond the reach of many consumers, and not a purchase that can be made lightly by anyone but the truly affluent,” Thurrott writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A $999 iBook or $799 eMac or $1299 iMac G5 is “too expensive” and only for “the truly affluent?” Paul’s nuts. Crazy, we say. Off his rocker. And it’s too early to say that iPod hasn’t translated into Mac sales. Only 6 million iPods are out there (2 million in the last quarter alone) and people take 3 or so years to upgrade their PCs. Patience. Paul’s worst nightmare is about to begin.
Value? What’s the value of a rock-solid operating system that doesn’t fall to its knees after 20 minutes on the Internet and become littered with viruses, worms, adware, spyware, malware, etc.? What’s the value of a computer that just works correctly and does what you want it to do? Windows iPod owners will see the value of the Mac – just give them a chance.
Shieldzee: “Thurott doesn’t offer much value over turd sandwiches”
Thank you Paul Thurrott for pronouncing Jimbo von Winskinheimer “truly affluent”.
Paul is a turd in the bowl, waiting to be flushed.
What a loser, he really is crazy.
I guess as part of the financially elite, I should have voted for Bush.
Flames aside, VOTE.
the poor journalist of wintel are grabbing for anything to write on
-paul
somebody emailed me the Bagle worm this weekend. I laughed at it. That’s enuf value add for me.
(so now thurrrot is saying that owning the whole widget is a good thing?)
Experts don’t make grammatical errors in their columns, they actually take the time to proofread.
Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.
–Plato
The village idiot speaks again! I think that Thurrott has gotten lost. Could someone please escort him back to his janitorial duties at Microsoft. The toilets are getting dirty again because they are full of…
You have to give him credit. He finally admitted he was wrong about something Apple. It’s the first step, to admit you have a problem. He’s on the road to recovery.
If you repeat a lie often enough and to enough people the lie will be believed.
Wizard’s First Rule: “People are stupid”
So is Thurott
Depends on what people mean by “value.” Some value “cheap,” others not. Cow flops have value for someone, right?
Value is in the eye of the cow?
Whatever.
Apple’s computer sales are not down. It’s share of the market is dropping.
The total computer market he is talking about includes cash registers as well as servers.
The iPod has a CPU, a hard drive, an OS, a display an input interface and input and output ports. If a cash register is a computer, so is an iPod.
If they are going to count everything …..
What’s of value???? Besides being able to make a living using my G4 laptop (I have a 2.5Ghz G5 on the way – woo hoo) – with software that let’s your imagination fly…no virus and ad ware problems. This guys should consider writing childrens fairy tales – Obviously the guy has no idea what productivity means.
Don’t waste your time reading Thurrott’s garbage. Here’s a mnemonic to help you remember that: Thurrott = thorough rot!
His stuff belongs on your reading list with John Dvorak, Rob Enderle, Jack Schofield, Laura DiDio and Lance Ulanoff. This reading list should only be consulted after you’ve read the entire contents of the Library of Congress.
The only thing I give Bush credit for while reading “My Pet Goat” during 9/11 is that he wasn’t reading something by Thurrott!
Market share, blah, blah, blah. What a next to meaningless statistic in this area. I would like to see a breakdown of where these machines are and what they are being used for.
actually… it was written well.
And one can spout patience patience… but in the reality of things, there is no Apple Computer Revival in the numbers yet. So until that happens…
The famous *tabloid* tech writer strikes again
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Thurrott didn’t slam the Mac platform this time (surprisingly), infact he wrote, “Today, the Mac is an excellent computer…”. He basically tryed to explain the shrinking market share as a result of consumer’s “preception” that Macs are high priced. The market’s perception determines a products success. Don’t shoot the messenger.
I am an Apple shareholder and I have enjoyed my return on investment greatly, but as a shreholder I ask: why does advertise all iPod and no Mac or OS X? Really, what does Apple perceive its core business as now? I don’t want to see their share slide more. Apple needs to promote the value of the Mac platform now.
It’s the Christmas buying season now folks, where’s the TV marketing blitz for the new iMac??? These are questions that we need to ask Apple.
mmm… I’m always the optimist, but actual sales are down in europe, not up like in the U.S. (up but not up as much as pc sales)
However, I was more disturbed by Steve Jobs lack of positive news about sales of the new iMac. Great reviews… but not once did he say ‘demand has been phenomenal’, etc. Just a ‘ we hope it will be a good christmas!’
People I know all love the iPod… but not one has even considered a move because of it… maybe it works too well on pc’s
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% of marketeshare is the single most misleading stat I’ve seen in a long time. It’s the number of Macs sold that I’m looking at, and guess what, they sold a lot more Macs this quarter than last, and the same will be true for next quarter, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one……<fading to silence>
Wow…I have three macs. I better notify the IRS….
It seems like everytime this idiot writes something negative about Apple he is later proven wrong.
So I’m happy when he writes that market share is down and consumers don’t see value. That means in truth we’ll see market share increase and consumers will understand the value of the Mac.
Why buy a new computer every 12 months when one solid Mac will last for four years?
You have got to be kidding me! Apple isn’t about market share it is about making a superior product. Which makes the whole value thing irrelevant because Windows is a problematic operating system. The boxes that contain the OS are a bit better, but they are still made like ’82 Camero. You can’t compare value between a Camero and a Porsche.
I love reading Thurott’s articles because he makes himself look like an Azz. I really think that he writes for Martha Stewarts Living, he just does the technology thing on the side.
Who in their right mind thinks the Mac has “failed” or that Apple has or will fail. How has this small minded expert defined failure?
The Mac is no more failed than is Mercedes or walmart. As long as they continue to return value to the shareholders, and sell new Macx, then market share doesn’t matter. Displacing the wintel platform does not matter. Catering to people who buy a computer they probably can’t afford from walmart is no standard on which to judge Apple and the Macs utility and value.
He may as well say that LCD TV’s and HDTV will fail because the price is only within reach of the “affluent”.
Apple makes Mac to make profit to make more Macs. The success of the iPod allows makes it easier to deliver “insanely great products”.
If Darwin had met Thurott then the theory of natural selection would never have occurred to him.
Eh? Can we drop this fashion accessory before I, the homophobe, opt for Dell DJ?
Okay, Paul uses an 4G iPod guys.. he’s no fashionista… Apple’s stuff has been a pleasure to use for years and years.. Paul’s own admission of iPod dominance means there’s more to it than Celeb status or sth..
Of course.. if you can get an eMac for a couple hundred dollars more.. how is the eMac affordable..
.. What.. the hell is he talking about..?
LOL
Gosh, now it turns out I only have a computer, not a system. Gimme a system!! I want a real, wintel-based system!!
Don’t click on the link to Thurrot’s site. You are just generating traffic of which he can boast to his advertisers.
I think that he is just out there baiting the mac faithful with his nonsense, feeding the search machines, so people will visit his site and give him the hits with which he earns his income. Ignore him! That will hurt him most.
thurott is a joke…..
He deserves to be spending most of his time trying to stay ahead of the virii du jour, the add / spyware du jour.. and all the popups…
maybe this is what he consicers “value-added”…
Hasnt he heard that Macs arent really that expensive ??
The new G5 iMac is actually the most inexpensive desktop computer you can buy…. when you consider what you get for your money !!
But then… Thurott couldnt go into a Wall-Mart with a fully loaded credit card…. and buy himself a clue !!
Stopped into my local apple store (sagemore in marlton NJ) the other day. I was picking up a LaCie HD…but spent time browsing and checking out the new stuff.
While I was there…maybe 10-15 minutes – two people came in and purchased brand new macs…one a tower G5, the other a G4 powerbook…and what did they both have in common…they were windows converts.
I over heard the one guy basically mock his own purchase…he was basically said his friends were berating him for switching…but he was tired of his PC constantly being plagued spyware and viruses. He’d had enough.
The other fellow muttered the same complaints. He was questioning the genius about all sorts of software and seemed surprised everything he wanted to run was available…it took three bags for the guy to get everything out to his car.
And this was a Tuesday evening around 7pm. The place had about 10 people in it…and they all were buying.
People are getting fed-up with Winblows crippling their computers….the tide might be turning….
GRRR.. <edit>.. how is the eMac *NOT* affordable </edit>
What is Thurrott’s marketshare (measured as total number of readers) compared to Walt Mossburg? If we don’t click on the link to his site we can make sure his marketshare drops.
He writes these kind of comments from time to time to convince himself that Apple is not the way to go. He gets paid for saying this. He’s not a journalist or even analyst at all. He’s a “paid for” shill for Microsoft. He uses totally faulty logic, makes outlandishly stupid statements and gets the “hits” he needs on his site to continue his miserable existence as a “writer”.
What Paul Thurrot is not saying – citing from the Forbes article he refers to – is:
“What makes the numbers most interesting is the fact that despite a 34% increase in Mac unit sales Q3 to Q2 at Apple’s retail stores, the company’s market share continued to decline in both the worldwide and U.S. figures. “
That again shows how silly is concluding that Apple is declining based on %market share.
Apple is growing, only the computer market share growth is dominated by corporates and business which EN MASS provide their employees with cheap crap PCs by the truckloads.
this may of already been mentioned: but sales “appear” to be down this quarter, but it’s the same quarter apple didn’t sell iMac for 60 days… plus had constrained supplies of G5 and G5 Servers. so we will see the numbers uptick quite strongly next quarter.
MDN, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop pretending Thurott’s opinions make any sense at all. Would you link to an article by Bozo the Clown on the merits of Windows XP vs. Mac OS X. Exactly! Thurott’s a clown so the best thing to do is just ignore him from now on – whatever he says!
OK. I know what a virus is. But what the heck are adware & malware?
Can someone please explain?
“[…] Dell, Rio, or even Creative, which arguably created this market […]”
Okay, I’ll give credit to Rio and Creative for creating the market. But Dell?!?! Come on!
Dell’s DJ came out long after the iPod! Hell, most of us remember when Dell was selling 2G iPods!
It’s like listening to a creationist spouting off about intelligent design. He’s though of the conclusion he wants and works backwards from there rather than working forward in order to learn the truth.
I think he’s only referring to Creative for creating the HD based market.
I believe we can hold the faith. The turn will be slow because Macs last so much longer than PCs. Even our newest brothers and sisters will find that they can go a couple of years now without buying a new PC, but as we gain more users, the rate of PC replacement will slow since more people will be using Macs. More low end vendors will go belly-up and profit margins on the existing vendors will go down as Dell & Co. cut prices even further trying to bolster the sagging PC market. Everyone will be running around bemoaning the collapsing tech market, while Mac users (with many happy switchers!!) will still be enjoying a burgeoning market, with increasingly more advanced machines and an even more sophisticated OS.
Pie in the sky? Perhaps. Time will tell, won’t it.
Wow! More inane comments from ThoroughlyRotten! I can’t believe it! He’s usually so sensible and intelligent!
</sarcasm>
I’m convinced he’s a Mac lover who figured out that he can make a healthy living writing FUD about Apple and then cashing in on advertising thanks to all the hits he gets from the angry Mac devotees. That’s the only thing that makes sense. Anyone as stupid as he appears to be wouldn’t even know how to boot a PC, let alone publish something on the web.
It’s the sales of PC’s that have gone up, especially in developing countries, there will always be a market for the very best.
Paul is looking at things again from a market share point of view and not of a profitable point of view.
Apple stock is 145%!!! Over 4 billion in cash!
Apple has been dying for real when Steve was gone, but now he’s back and hooked up with IBM which is building a whopping 360 Tflop PowerPC based computer that will be the fastest for tens of years.
The G5 chip is fully 64 bit, dual cores next year too!
Oh we are not dead, Apple isn’t playing in the gutter for low margin profits for a good reason.
Let the cheapo’s fight over the bones, Apple is eating steak and potato’s.
“Though Apple had hoped that a swell of iPod customers would result in higher sales of the pricey but elegant Mac, that has not been the case. According to Gartner, Mac worldwide market share fell to 1.8 percent in the most recent quarter, down from 2.1 percent in the same quarter a year ago”
One can have “higher sales”, and lower “market share” at the same time. Of course, this forgets to mention that iMac sales were bound to be lower due to the constrained G5 supply, but hey, why ignore facts, this is “anal”ysis.
At the end of the day I don’t give a toss what Thurrott or any other writer says about the mac platform and apple.
I mad my decision 10 years ago and am glad to say I have never regretted going over to the mac.
I made an educated decision and look forward to using macs to the grave!
Not once have I thought – ‘I want to buy a windows pc’!
A message to thurrot – “Give up and shut up! – No one on the internet or in the I.T. industry who reads your crap believes a word you write and if anyone does then they’ve been living in mental home for the last 10 years!”
What’s it like thurrot – being the laughing stock of the internet and being known by everyone on the planet as a total global dickhead and a waste of space on the planet?
I have to work on Wintel and Mac, and there is simply no comparison. Windows is a world of aggressively mediocre software, and annoying bugs, viruses, and headaches. My Mac just sails along, doing what I ask; doing it well, and making me happy in the process. No contest. Mac wins. Is it worth the extra money? If you consider all the HIDDEN costs of Windows, the Mac costs far less in dollars, time, and aggravation. If Apple can do so well with such low market share, imagine what they’ll do when people sicken of the plague that is Windows. They obviously CAN serve a niche market and do just fine, while improving future copycat products, and providing an inspirational and refreshing alternative to the monopoly’s wares. Think of the world with Apple, and thank your lucky stars they exist.
One of my clients called yesterday morning in a panic. She was with one
> of her clients.
> The woman couldn’t receive e-mail suddenly.
> I said, “Mac or PC?”
> She said, “PC.”
> I said, “Alexis, you know I don’t touch Windows.”
> She screamed, “Stop being a fucking dick and help her!”
> I said, “What do you want me to do?”
> She said, “Just talk to her.”
> I said, “Fine.”
> This woman gets on the phone. She
> describes the problem
> she’s having getting e-mail. I said, “Did you call Earthlink?” She
said,
> “I’ve been on the phone with them all morning and they were no help.”
> I sighed. I said, in an extremely tired voice, “What’s the error?”
She
> rattled off a bunch of crap that made no sense… error numbers…
> can’t retrieve e-mail because of error ######. I sighed again. I
> gave her the number for THE GEEK SQUAD.
>
> I wish I was as big as THE GEEK SQUAD.
>
> They called again this morning. THE GEEK SQUAD Geek was there
> for 3 hours yesterday. He charged her a flat $230 for virus removal,
> but her e-mail still didn’t work, and now she couldn’t get on the
> Internet
> as well. She opted not to pay for more service even though THE GEEK
> removed a ton of viruses, spyware, and other malware.
>
> (If you are a PC user, you probably have this crap even if you don’t
> think you do.)
>
> I said, “I’m sorry, but I thought THE GEEK SQUAD was supposed to
> know what they’re doing. We discussed this a bit more and one
question
> led to another and finally she mentioned that just before all the
> trouble
> started she bought a new copy of NORTON ANTI-VIRUS and installed it.
>
> I said, “What? … You did what?”
>
> She repeated herself.
>
> I said, “Turn Norton off completely, then try your e-mail.”
>
> Sure enough her e-mail came through.
>
> She was reading it, then the computer shut down.
>
> She started it again, started reading her e-mail, then the computer
> shut down again.
>
> She called back…
>
> “If I switch to a Mac, will you come and help me, move all my files,
> and get me
> up and running?”
>
> I said, “Yeah. Warm up your credit card. Call Sandy at Melrose Mac.
> Tell her you want My
> Windows Refugee package.”
>
> I’ll be there with the new computer by noon.
>
>
Simply faithful, consistent brown-nosing at its best. Enough said.
theloniusMac
Great story !! …. Cant wait to hear the obvious happy ending !
the ipod has been successful for a number of reasons, one of them being its a fashion item, another being all the windows based offerings suck ass
For another hoot, check out his “Internet Nexus” site, which features these gems:
“I can’t honestly claim to have been at the forefront of many technological changes, but the Media Center is one of the few times where I can say that I knew immediately that it was going to be huge.”
Media Center has been through at least 3 iterations and I dare you to even find 3 PC users who even know what it is. People don’t want to watch TV using Windows. They want a simple and RELIABLE device, like Tivo, not something that can be connected to the internet and get infected, and take constant feeding to keep working.
“Jobs continues to both downplay portable video and belittle those who want it, which is odd. He says Portable Media Centers–as the representative device in this category–are too big, too heavy, and suffer from a lack of content. That last bit is laughable. Unlike the Mac, which doesn’t exactly have a lot of video content available for it, PC users can record TV shows and subscribe to online services like CinemaNow and MovieLink to get video content.”
Um, yeah, they ARE too big, they ARE too heavy and they ARE too expensive. And “lots of video content???” What’s available now are second-rate movies. And until my mom can record TVs easily and transfer them from her computer to an iPod, it ain’t gonna happen. Thurott has regular consumers confused with early-adopting “geeks” who will put up with a lot. He’s just wrong on the video too.
thelonius mac.. WOW.. it was one disaster after the next.. alot of money spent on.. a.. more.. affordable.. system.. based.. on ……. Windows..
*pounds head against the desk..
phew.. good thing it’s got a happy ending =)
thelonius mac: Great stuff. I feel the same way. I gave up on Windows but support Macs worldwide….and I feel just like the Maytag repair salesman.
Suedejacket: Yeah I noticed that about the article. Some not so nasty things about the mac.
“And ironically, Apple’s success with the iPod is coming at the expense of Microsoft and its partners, which have watched as competitor after competitor have failed to make a dent in the iPod’s armor.”
Like wow, even he can see that.
“Today, the iPod enjoys market share of 65 percent when compared to all digital portable audio players, or a whopping 92 percent when compared to just hard drive-based players”
Another wow, like some truth from the guy.
” As Steve Jobs said during a recent special event marking the release of new iPod models, “iPod has become a cultural phenomenon.” And he’s right: Sometimes products transcend their market categories and reach into the public consciousness at a much deeper than would normally be considered possible.”
Paul agreeing with Steve Jobs? What’s up here?
The guy is getting scary. Bill do something about this..we need our FUD…LOL
Thurridiot sounds like he is wrong even on the rare occasions he is right.
Great Story TheloniusMac! Please give us the final chapter when you get it.
Turd is once again right…
Idiot!
the dick loves the word, “arguably” doesn’t he?
“arguably superior Dell DJ”
“XP arguably better than OSX”
the man’s a moron…
And how many visits of the $75 an hour technician to fix your PC add up before a Mac is competitive? Two three? So Macs are a bargain if you keep your computers more htan six months or so, eh?
Somewhere, thee’s atown sadly missing their Village Idiot – please send Thurott back to them…
“And how many visits of the $75 an hour technician to fix your PC add up before a Mac is competitive? Two three? So Macs are a bargain if you keep your computers more htan six months or so, eh?”
Too true. I had a friend in town recently who regularly (and ignorantly) belittles my use of Macs, and he was telling me about how he was going to buy a new computer because he had recently had to pay a PC tech $100 to remove viruses from his machine and he figured next time he may as well put that $100 toward a new computer. He said that he has to do that about once a year! But yet when I told him to put the next $100 toward a Mac so he’d never have have to have viruses removed again he scoffed, so instead he’s going to have to keep visiting the PC Tech. There’s no getting through to some people.
Just think, every time you read a thrurott article, he gets 10� from M$. Now, do you still wanna read & visit his site?
bootoo: “the dick loves the word, “arguably” doesn’t he?”
“arguably superior Dell DJ”
“XP arguably better than OSX”
Perhaps he means that one has to argue (illogically) about it as it seems a ridiculous assertion!!!
I’m disappointed with the angle you took. I thought it was a breakthrough that he admitted he was wr-wr-wrong about the iPod, and he had mainly positive things to say about Apple’s products. You managed to accentuate the negative.
Mr Thurrott is lacking in the facilites necessary for discourse. His inference that he is a pundit is totally laughable.
Mr Thurrott reminds me of that below the waste orifice we all have. The only difference is his sits on his shoulders and excretes to the internet instead of a toilet.
Thurrott may have figured out what generates hits, but so has MDN. LOL
ndelc: there is this *special* breed of Windows users that act just like lemmings. If you ask they truly don’t know why they are using Windows, it invariably boils down to “everyone else is doing Windows”.
Then there are a little Windows users % that honestly try to understand the difference and – for the most – they are all switching. But it is admittedly a small percentage of the whole lot.
The lemming kind will simply fall when enough around them will be either doing Mac or had switched already: they simply cannot stand peer pressure and go with the wind. Admittedly, they are the bulk of Windows users base.
Until Apple create the ‘ientertainment store’ portable video is dead!
The only thing that is gonna get me to buy a portable video device is if I can download the latest movies to watch BEFORE they are released on DVD/video.
It would have to be a subsciption service too to work and of course everyone would need at least 10mbit broadband!!
LOL!
Solar, current 2Mb/s connection would do just fine.
Thelonius Mac is a Life saver!
Bush:
There is weapons in the Iraq and I dont like Saddam.
Bush:
There is no weapons in the Iraq and I dont like Saddam.
Bush:
Me like oil and I dont like Saddam
Bush:
I do as the Israel says and I dont like Saddam
Bush:
Oh the weapons of the mass distraction werent in the Iraq they were in Afganistan .. NO sorryy they were in the Iran .. NO sorryyy they were in the Israel .. NO shit.. We cant print that! The weapons were in USA .. God damn it! We cant print that!
Bush produces 80% of the worlds cocaine in the Afganistan with a little help from Halliburton.
Wizards rule #2:
stupid people suck
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It’s all relative. I get four spam emails a month and I think about changing login; someone sends me a Word doc with a W97 macro virus and I think about ending the relationship. I guess is you live near an open sewer, you get somewhat used to the smell. ‘Course, when you make a living handling shit, like Thurrot does, the smell sticks — you just can’t get away from it.
cpr’s approach is right.
This man is yearning to be loved and accepted.
Abusing him is the wrong approach.
He needs to be understood.
Let’s try being nice to him.
He can’t help being a cunning stunt!
Voting for Bush is like agreeing with this guy.
OSX on Intel is what Thurrott is leading to here. Pretty simple to figure out.
Must be that famous fuzzy math, it seems that more and more of the people I know, as well as other I run into are buying Macs, even people that swore they would never do anything but windoze.
Cherry OS anyne?