[Ti] Market Share: 2.3% -- That's NOT good press, coupled with the loss

[Michael Bigley]

>On Fri, 17 Jan 2003, Michael Bigley wrote:
>
>>  >Most market share numbers are based on *sales* not *in-use*.
>
>So? Ultimnately those new sales will translate into market share.
>
>>  >Most in-use numbers show a 9-12% Macintosh usage share.  Remember, most
>>  >Wintel machines are purchased as replacements within a 12-18 month period.
>>  >
>Even Macs don't last forever, and ultimately cn't run the latest Mac OS or
>carry enough "umph" to run the latest applications.
>
>>  >The problem is that all these sales numbers assume that each machine is
>>  >going into service as a new machine, not as a replacement for an existing
>>  >machine.  All that they say is that there are 97-99 Wintel 
>>machines sold for
>>  >every Macintosh sold.  This does not equal "market share" in spite of those
>  > >people who would like it to mean that.

First, be careful on your auto quoting; I did not say the above...

Second, everyone is lamenting about this 2.3% number with no 
substantiated facts!  Has anyone actually confirmed this number to be 
accurate... based on what? Sales reported to IDC?  Isn't this numbers 
from wholesalers? Does it include Apple Store (online and 
brick/mortar)?  IDC's numbers have traditionally been bogus and 
biased when it comes to Apple.  When the iMac was the leading 
computer sold; they classified the different colors as different 
models so it lost the top spot...

I will state it again: market share is near-meaningless statistic 
except to Marketing execs who need something to benchmark their 
bonuses... and bored reporters who need to continually attack Apple.

Apple is selling BILLIONS of dollars worth of computers every year, 
the number of computers sold is increasing, and more importantly the 
number of hardware and software developers is growing by leaps and 
bounds.  The rest is all hype.
-- 
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Mike Bigley                Maineville, Ohio
       http://www.norbertrunning.com
Please support an American Indian Elder &
Medicine Man by visiting the above link.
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