[Ti] Market Share: 2.3% -- That's NOT good press

[Massimo Marino]

On Friday, January 17, 2003, at 07:34 PM, PowerBook G4 Titanium List 
wrote:

> Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 12:08:28 -0500 (EST)
> From: Henry Kalir <kalirhe at UMDNJ.EDU>
> Subject: Re: [Ti] Market Share: 2.3% -- That's NOT good press, coupled
>  with
>  the loss
> Message-ID: <Pine.HPX.4.10.10301171150530.28423-100000 at njmsa.umdnj.edu>
>
> On Fri, 17 Jan 2003, Michael Bigley wrote:
> [...]
>>
>> Add to that the actual number of Macs (and all computers) sold keeps
>> growing, the whole market share myth is worse than the megahertz
>> myth.  When the actual number of Mac users starts falling that is
>> cause for concern, but, in fact, it is growing... especially in the
>> consumer end.
>
> From 5% of the market to 2.3%??? That's growth???

The message from Michael was that 5% of say 7 years ago is INDEED fewer 
computers than the 2.3% (make 3% though) of today.
Should not be a surprise that % numbers are NOT absolute value. I'll 
take anytime 2.3% of a $1,000,000 over 5% of $10,000. Wouldn't you?
>>
>> In the mid-90s when software and hardware vendors start abandoning
>> Apple, that was scary, but today, that trend is actually reversed,
>> with more hardware and software options than ever before. Part of
>> that has to do with Apple becoming more compliant, but also because
>> companies are making money.
>
> Given your general line of reasoning, why should this be "scary"? As 
> some
> here seem to say - "whatever we don't have on the Mac is obviously
> something that is not needed or important"...
>
That WAS scary because lack of new development means stagnation. The 
reasoning was that if an application was missing, was missing period.
Now the leitmotiv is: is it missing today? Look: they are releasing a 
better product in 2 months! And Apple has take its own destiny in 
hands: Safari and Keynote. That is a direct blow to Micro$oft guts. I 
would not be surprised to see a major overhaul of AppleWorks to provide 
better than Word and better than Excell product before the end of the 
year.

>
> Folks...PLEASE...Apple needs to work on an OS that can take ANY Windoze
> application and run it just as good or BETTER on the Mac OS (like being
> able to play the same record on a superior HI FI...or whatever 
> appropriate
> analogy you care for) so that PC users (NOT you, the converted!!!) will
> say" Hey! NEAT...I might as well get a Mac and run all my applications 
> and
> then some on it". An increase in market share is not just GOOD, it's a
> MUST for Apple to survive. STOP deluding yourselves... TY for 
> listening.
>

Henry, that would ONLY be possible if Apple would adopt an x86 chip on 
its mother board. The only current way a Mac could run ANY Windoze app 
is via VirtualPC. Are you suggesting the future of Apple is by adopting 
Intel x86. Boy I am glad it's not you at the help of Apple ;-)

The PC user is converted (and I have 9 switcher on my account myself) 
or is convinced to switch if what he can do on the PC can be done 
better on a Mac (like having Unix underpin without need double reboot 
with a Linux partition for example). Granted, my 9 switcher colleagues 
were all bogged down by living on a PC which were forcing them to 
reboot few times a day and go through converting file to/fro 
Windows/Linux.
Seeing I could do the same faster and without needing conversions 
(actually using drag&drop most of the times) on my Titanium bought them 
over. It was the better use and more efficient, not the fact that they 
could run the same PowerPoint or Word or access a Unix cluster or 
having a X11 application opening a window on their screen. They had 
that already using Exceed on Windows.
It was the BETTER and more EFFICIENT experience that made them to 
switch.

The analogy with the Hi-Fi does not hold: The PC user perceive he gets 
at least the same with less money. He should perceive that no matter 
how much money he could put on the PC he will not be able to reproduce 
the quality or ease of use of a Mac.

If all the PC user could do is run the very same applications why 
should he ditch his PC and spend money on a Mac to get the SAME 
thing????
If all I could show to my colleagues was the equivalent of Exceed and I 
had to reboot to get on Unix would have they switched? No way: they 
would have laughed at me and told me: "I spent 1 third of what you have 
spent to do the same thing. Have more respect of your money, buddy!"

Instead the reaction was: "Boy, I CANNOT do that on my PC!!!!"

Cheers

--
Massimo Marino, Ph.D.
NERSC Division - HPC Department
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~marino
On leave at CERN, CH, EP Division, Atlas experiment
phone: (+41) 22 767-1288 fax: (+41) 22 767-8350 Office: 40-3-D16
alternate email: marino at slac.stanford.edu, marino at mail.cern.ch, 
Massimo.Marino at cern.ch