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

[Garrett]

> Apple lost over $1 BILLION in the 2 years prior to Jobs' return trying 
> to go head-to-head with Microsloth.  That war was lost.  One of the 
> first thing Jobs did was get rid of the "us vs Microsoft" mentality 
> and return Apple to its innovative roots.  Apple is thriving as a 
> niche player. Since the time of Jobs' return, they grew their cash on 
> hand from $4 billion to over $5 billion before their stock buy-back.
>
> People who think Apple's business is in decline should read the 
> Chicken Little fairy tail; according to the media, the sky has been 
> falling for Apple since 1986. ;-)

I couldn't agree more.

The Mac Observer has an "Apple Death Knell Counter" on their site.
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2002/10/29.5.shtml
Apple has been declared DEAD (not just beleaguered or in trouble) 19 
times since February of 1996.  Consider what has happened during the 
last six or seven years: the financial turnaround from 96/97, great 
hardware like iMacs/iceBook/TiBook/AlBook and great software like OS X 
and all the iApps.

Market share is important, no doubt, as is perception based upon it... 
whether it's the average Joe at CompUSA saying "Apples are expensive, 
and isn't Macintosh going out of business?" or the corporate buyer / 
investor listening to the pessimism of writers and analysts.  It's 
frustrating to see the media's constant focus on a few oft-spouted 
numbers when Apple really does have so many things going for it....

...and I wouldn't consider myself a Mac fanatic.  I use a variety of 
hardware and multiple operating systems.  Apple's not perfect.  The 
Mac's not perfect.  But it seems to me that more than any other PC 
company, Apple consistently comes up with innovative, user-friendly, 
well-designed, aesthetically pleasing products.

I'm 22 and have used PCs from the time my family got a PC running 
MS-DOS 3.3 (shudder... I do remember being jealous of my cousin's Mac 
Plus) through Windows XP.  In 1999, I was sick of battling with Windows 
98 so, off-the-cuff I decided to try a Mac and bought a G4 Tower (it 
still chugs along faithfully and will for many years).  I got burned by 
the G4 price increase (remember that?), but I quickly forgot as I 
discovered that the Mac is a great platform.  Later I shelled out for a 
PowerBook G4 in 2001.  (I even picked up a few old Macs at garage sales 
and the like.)  I know some people don't love OS X (I'll admit the 
Classic MacOS is a joy to use in many ways, and there's just something 
endearing about it), but it rocks to have a Mac that can run my 
favorite Mac apps like Photoshop/InDesign/Quicktime right next to UNIX 
apps, connect easily to PC networks, etc.  Jaguar puts XP to shame, IMO.

Anyway.  I don't know where I'm going.  :)  The sky has been falling on 
Apple for most of my life, but Apple's still alive and kicking.  I have 
no idea what will happen in the future.  I simply hope Apple sticks 
around for a good long time, doing what it does best.


Garrett
garrett at untopia.com