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After a Decade, Mac Sales Again Top 10%
GMGruman writes "The last time Apple's Mac sales accounted for more than 10 percent of the U.S. PC market was 1991. This spring, Apple finally returned to that market share high, with 10.7 percent of all U.S. PC sales, according to both IDC and Gartner. That's a major reversal from its 2004 share of under 2 percent. The sales report comes after some other good news this week for Apple: A third of big businesses now let employees choose a Mac as their PC — and more than half choose the Mac."
That's TWO decades.
let me know when you pass 12 percent. silly moderns.
Since when does 20 years = 1 decade?
The title should read "After a Baker's Decade, ...".
#DeleteChrome
Am I the only person delighted that they used PC not exclusively in the Windows context? I don't think the Microsoft campaign to make PC == Windows is an accident.
mov ah, 4ch
int 21h
it simply is not OK for a person or computer company to dictate that it can't be changed, what apps are OK or not OK, or how to use YOUR device. Get a clue people.
Fortunately, Apple does not do any of these things with Mac desktops or servers. I'm free to change anything I want, I can run any app I want, and I can use my Mac desktop any way I want. So I'm not really sure what your point is.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
It's measured in some odd recursive binary.
10 in binary is 2
and so it's' recursive like PHP, 10 *2 = 20.
So 20 this is a recursive binary decade.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
'Clueless' - how apt. You really have no clue about OSX / UNIX do you?
"it simply is not OK for a person or computer company to dictate that it can't be changed, what apps are OK or not OK, or how to use YOUR device." You know we are talking about Macs, right? Please stand up and defend your statement.
Yep, nothing says "locked down" more than bundling an IDE with your OS, along with GCC, LLVM, Perl, Java, Python, Ruby...
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Just because people are making a choice you don't like, doesn't make everyone else is clueless.
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
The only thing i am not understanding is why are the tech magazines online are making that great fuss over the results of one company only over its U.S. sales.
if u.s. is a market of 300 million, china is a market of 1.5 bn. japan is 100 million (and you HAVE to have advanced gadgetry there - cellular phones that cannot display tv broadcasts dont sell - that includes apple's iphones http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/02/why-the-iphone/ ), the market that is india is another 1 bn, the market that is europe is another approx 500 mn.
and all these markets have either huge volume, or high purchasing power.
and yet, this much stampede is being made over apple reaching 10% share in american market - so much that one would think apple conquered all markets.
or is it some marketing hype in order to make the stocks in nasdaq move ?
Read radical news here
Solaris workstations are still sold. Are workstations not desktops?
and I like people who own flower shops and have big hula hoop earrings.
Apple does not sell servers. The X-serve was discontinued last year, I think.
Apple sells servers, in big tower configurations and in home appliance-like configurations. What they no longer sell is rack mounted servers.
and also uhm...
the conspiarcy side of me says that there is a gigantic education bubble going on, all those 'graphic designers' need macs for their gubmint funded for-profit 'degrees in animation'.
Apple does not sell servers. The X-serve was discontinued last year, I think.
They still have the Mac Mini server for SOHO use. They are out of the enterprise server market, although there's a rumor they are planning a rack mountable version of the Mac Pro. But then there are always Apple rumors.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
In my experience, all of them. Every school daughter has attended in my area -- grade, junior high, high -- are mac exclusively. I spent a summer helping out in the grade school computer lab one summer, got acquainted with a fairly wide range of mac hardware, some quite elderly.
When she had to bring software home, (she's dyslexic and is entitled to some special ed tools) sometimes there would be a PC version, but there was problems often enough that it was easier to buy a used mac and dedicate it as a homework machine. I realize that not every kid falls into this category.
When she had to audition for art school, the test was with Photoshop on a Mac. Fortunately she had experience. Kids who had experience with the PC version were somewhat more challenged.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I recall seeing a study from a few years back that people in economic downtimes tend to be more frugal (not really a surprise), to research big purchases much more carefully, and to purchase items which they expect to last them for longer, even if they come at a higher price. The articles talking about the study used Apple as an example, since they were the only major computer manufacturer who saw positive growth in unit sales in the quarter or two immediately after the recession hit, while the rest of the industry was seeing negative growth. Regardless of how people feel about Apple computers, they do have a reputation for quality and for lasting (though I'm sure some of us can cite anecdotal evidence to the contrary), which appeals to people who need to make their purchases last during tough times.
They were marketing some of their Macs/Powerbooks as if they could run MS-DOS programs. This somewhat helped. That was false.
You are mistaken. In the 90s some Macs came with a x86 coprocessor card, it was basically a PC in a slot. So yes, Apple did have Macs that could run MS-DOS and Windows just fine back in the 90s.
Fast forward to now, since the x86 macs, they can finally actually run MS-DOS programs. (boot disk of course)
That is also mistaken. You can dual boot or use a virtual machine. As a matter of fact the virtual machine software on the Mac can run Windows from that dual boot partition or a more typical VM filesystem file(s). So if you want to conveniently run some office type app on the Mac desktop you can do so, and when you want to run a game and get full performance you can dual boot rather than emulate.
The Apple Store isn't the only game in town for buying Mac service agreements.
"Try switching where your window controls are located"
you poor tortured soul.
I know its purely anecdotal but I have Apple computers that are PowerPCs and they are still running well without problems. I have several first generation Intel models and I haven't had a problem. During that same period, I've had 1 dead Sony laptop, 3 dead Dell Desktops, and 2 operational but basically worthless Dell laptops due to their cases breaking at key mechanical points (eg hinges, latches, keyboard).
I also haven't had any problems with last year's model of the iMac 27 i7 or the previous year iMac 24 core2 duo. We pretty much went all Mac for all new purchases because of the great experience we have with Apple computers and their excellent customer support. Apple sent us a notice last year to come by the store and fix one of our white macbook chasis for free because they considered some cracking to be a manufacturing defect. I have 2 completely broken Dell laptops that are around the same age, so we didn't consider a crack on a macbook to be that big of a deal.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
I'd be willing to bet that iOS development is a HUGE factor in this... because a lot of houses are wanting to jump on the iOS development bandwagon, and the only authorized way to develop for iOS (and the only way to get an app on iTunes) is by using a Mac for development.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Apple's customer base is relatively fixed, and that means that when the cheap-end of the PC market falters, their "percentage" of the market grows without needing any sales growth.
I'm pretty sure all those college kids with their MacBooks weren't using macs 10 years ago. Those are all switchers. Most Apple users I know are switchers (as am I.)
In addition, Apple released a major refresh on their most popular models this quarter (something folks have been waiting on after years of Core 2), so they were able to satisfy a lot of pent-up demand.
While that's true what we're seeing isn't a one time peak. Mac sales have been steadily climbing year after year.
So, this is not some "amazing" milestone, nor is it an indicator of impressive growth for Apple in the PC market. Instead, Apple merely traded places with Acer, and pumped their share a little due to the largest lineup refresh in over a year.
I'd say they traded places with the likes of HP and Sony on the premium end of the market which Apple completely owns. PC makers have basically given up on the high end. Most high end laptops for example are trying to copy Apple, some more blatantly than others.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
Um, are you implying that setting a custom desktop background color on OS X is difficult? Because that's what it sounds like you're saying.
And no, it's not hard. Like seriously, you have to be literally retarded if you can't do it.
But considering a modern Mac is just a PC running a different OS, you can still buy a pretty good PC for less than what you would pay for a Mac.
You can build a "pretty good" PC for less than a mac if you only compare the specs. Once you throw in things like service, build quality, noise level, footprint and intangibles like style, macs own their category. But sometimes pretty good is good enough.
Now, someone who *wants* a Mac won't hesitate to pay the premium, but what we were talking about here (I think) is previous PC customers who have decided to make the switch.
You've got that exactly backward. People who are prepared to pay a premium when buying a PC don't hesitate to chose a mac. There are no "nice" PC's anymore, all I see are half assed attempts by the likes of HP and ricer monstrocities while the rest are in a race to the bottom.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
Except that you can still use GCC and a number of alternative SDKs on OS X. Nobody is forcing you to use XCode.
It's a separate install, not a separate download (although it will be with 10.7 Lion)
No developer account necessary, just install it.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
Well, I spent a total of 5 seconds and found this software:
http://unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter
I haven't actually used it, but from its description, it sounds like, yeah, actually you *can* change where your window controls are located. And I can only assume that there are other pieces of similar software out there.
And before you say something along the lines of that software not being included with the normal OS, then you're missing the point of OS X entirely, where things aren't a mish-mash disaster of ppl's desktops looking like ugly WinAmp skins, and actually function (gasp!) consistently.
It would be interesting to see how Apple stacks up in Asia, where the PC market is still growing at 12% per year...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
That is the worst argument against a MacBook Pro I've ever heard.
I know its purely anecdotal but I have Apple computers that are PowerPCs and they are still running well without problems. I have several first generation Intel models and I haven't had a problem. During that same period, I've had 1 dead Sony laptop, 3 dead Dell Desktops, and 2 operational but basically worthless Dell laptops due to their cases breaking at key mechanical points (eg hinges, latches, keyboard).
I'm the main tech support for my extended family who all used Windows computers. Pretty much every weekend I was cleaning up one computer or another, fixing both hardware and software issues.
I finally got fed up with it and convinced each one to convert over to Mac as their computers died out. Now they all run Macs and I rarely have to do anything. It's pure heaven!
Yes, the Macs do have the occasional issue but they are much easier to use and they rarely break down. Even when they do break down it usually a quick fix and the machine is back in action.
I'm sure that there are plenty of Windows users out there who have very few problems with their machines but for the ordinary person a Windows machine can be very fragile.
Sapere aude!
Try doing it on Windows. Or Ubuntu, for that matter.
(+1, Disagree)