As Steve Jobs basks in the glow of being a marketing genius, Randall Stross suggests in a New York Times column that Apple appears to be blowing its chances to grab more market share in the personal computer market.
Apparently, Apple still only has 3% of the global PC market despite all the buzz about the MacBook and strong sales of desktop computers such as the iMac. This is happened at a time when Microsoft’s Vista OS continues to have terrible growing pains. Stross said Apple could do much better, for example, f it had a more aggressive retail strategy, which is mostly focused on the company’s 185 Apple Stores. The Mac, for example, is only available in less than 40% of Best Buy’s 872 stores.
If Stross’ theory is right, it’s really not that difficult to explain why Windows-based machines still dominate the market. First, there’s just one Apple vs. many Windows-based rivals – always has been and, for the near future, always will. Second, PCs are cheap. These days, you can get a kick-ass desktop or laptop without breaking the bank. For example, you can buy a Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop for $499. For a lot of people, an Inspiron meets their needs just as well as a $1400 MacBook.
Of course, the key question is whether market share matters to Apple. You could argue it doesn’t because what’s more important is having a fast-growing business with a vibrant product portfolio and loyal customers. The iPod’s success and iTunes have made Apple more of a consumer electronics company than a computer maker. I’m sure Apple would love to have higher market share of the PC market but I don’t think Steve Jobs lies away at night worrying about it.
More: Technosailor has some strong words about the obsession with all things new at Apple, while Jeremy Toeman weighs in on Vista’s struggles, suggesting it “will go down in history as a bigger debaucle than Windows Millenium Edition”.
It’s a franchise isses – that extends beyond the hardware.
If apple wants to win they’ve got to make it easy to replicate all the software you’ve invested in a Mac environment
That stats with an office suite (of which their are many (but the key thing is to ensuse thay what ever they choose includes file conversions for MS Offices enivatible new formats when they are under threat)
It probably also means a sharper pencil – beacuse while the packaging is very nice – it’s often easy for buyers to match the specs at a considerable discount.
What Apple has going for it is a usebase that are fashion leaders – and listening to them – and a fantastic marketing and design department have done really well for them.