Interesting Apple analysis in the Sunday Times this week from the always-provocative Randall Stross. His thesis: That Apple has an unprecedented opportunity to gain on Windows while Vista is stinking up the joint — and they’re blowing it.
If you’re the owner of a Windows PC who is looking for a replacement computer, the choices are grim. You can step into the world of hurt that is Vista, the latest version of Microsoft Windows that was released in January. Or you can seek out a new machine that still comes loaded with the comparatively ancient Windows XP.
Maybe, you might say, the moment has arrived to take a look at the Mac. You can easily order one online, of course. But if you’d like to take a test-drive before you commit, odds are that you’ll have to look far and wide for a store that sells it. The Mac’s presence in the retail world remains limited, a shame given the rare opportunity for Apple to gain market share that opened up when Vista arrived.
In a lot of ways, this is a golden era to be a Mac owner and for Apple. With 185 fantastic retail stores worldwide, we can just walk in the door and see every product and service for Mac, iPod and iPhone in one place. But on the other hand, if you walk into any computer store in America, you’re way more likely to see HP, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo and Acer machines on displays than anything from Apple other than the iPod. Mac sales are up right now — considerably so — but Macs are still niche and seem poised to remain there. It’s a terribly tricky problem, though. Part of Apple’s problems in the mid-’90s happened because of the company’s prominent place in mainstream stores — and thoroughly mediocre product and sales methods to match.
Is there an answer here that makes the Mac mainstream? I can’t see it. What say you?
22 responses to “NY Times: Meager Channels Limit Mac Gains Post-Vista”
In the UK you can buy Macs in PC world, which is as about as mainstream as you can get in the retail PC market place.
Moz
The Mac IS mainstream. It’s the 4th or 5th best selling computer, and gaining. Analysts say Apple’s Q4 ’07 increase in sales and profits was due to the success of it’s computers more than the iPod. Apple succeeds based on unit profitability, and controlled growth. And to say that Apple’s biggest competitor is Microsoft is not accurate.
Apple has no single competitor. The competition is from a variety of interdependent and intracompetitive companies. if MS makes a special deal with Dell, it hurts HP or Toshiba, and makes an opportunity for Apple. Microsoft makes a lot more profit from Office, which is platform agnostic, than it does from Windows, so soaring Mac sales helps MS – all those switchers need to buy new versions of Office.
Apple is primarily a hardware maker. They only make software to support their own products. The only hardware Microsoft makes (XBox and Zune) are money losers. And unlike the iPod, few people buy additional software (music, video, games) directly from Microsoft. The iPhone (and now touch iPod) are the convergence of Apple’s product line, merging iPod and OS X platforms. Microsoft releases Vista and the market yawns – or complains. When was the last time you even read about a new model from Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba, Gateway, etc., etc., etc.? Apple releases a new OS X or iPod or Mac and the market goes bananas.
Finally, Apple’s hardware competitors and Microsoft have to have each other to survive. Without Microsoft, Dell sales collapse. Sure they can run Linux, but it’s not supportable, so consumers stay away and corporations won’t put it on the desktop. And they can’t run OS X. Without Dell, et al, Microsoft can’t sell Windows. Ironically they’d increase profit margins thanks to Office, but they’re all about revenue, and might implode without the Windows sales.
So Apple seems to have the optimal business model for the computer world. They’re not going to pursue market share at the expense of profitability. Like every other great company, they tend to their business, not worry about how other companies operate. No matter what narrow minded analysts think they should be doing.
Really, who gives a damn whether the Mac is mainstream? Other than the herd-minded pencil-pushers who seem to comprise the majority of the PC user market, that is.
I agree with qjqqk…I for one would be happier if Macs remained at present, if not lower, market saturation. iPods/Phones/Touch are all well and good for the masses, but I’m starting to get sick of seeing all the HS/College freshman flcoking to the Apple store just because they think it’s cool. Back in my day,….Ok, I should probably end if I start making statements like that, but seriously, I like mac owners to actually appreciate their computers, not think they are just prettier PCs.
Saying the mac should be more prominent in the market means only that macs will become as big a target for hackers, viruses, spy ware, and all the other malicious threats facing PC owners. The development teams at apple will then slow to the grind that microsoft employees have been operating at, as they try to stop the flood of security threats. Apple software is only able to stay ahead in quality because their workers don’t have to serve as internet police first, and software designers as a side job. I’m not a microsoft fan, but i do know that there are more reasons for that company’s shortcomings than an uninspired workforce.
I have to agree that they’re blowing it. They need more advertsing along the lines of “I’m a Mac-I’m a PC” (but different/new)
And they need more retail.
Only 1 city in all of Canada has an Apple store. That kinda says it all.
And I’ve yet to see a 24″ iMac in all of Canada yet.
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-135…
The Macalope is all over this one. See comment 1 and 4, also.
I think the premise that Apple only has a window of opportunity to seize a larger market share is hooey. Vista needed to be a big hit right out of the gate, and it tanked. Even if it recovers eventually (and Microsoft does often right itself eventually), it’s still damaged in the eyes of the computing public. And there’s OS Leopard coming out next month. Rather, I think, what we’re seeing is Microsoft dither away what had been a practically decisive advantage in OS market share by staking so much of its prestige on a product that has mostly embarrassed it so far.
And I think comment 4 in that thread makes a good point about the quality of the retail experience that Apple has had in the past. Jay is no doubt correct that there need to be more Apple stores, but the network has grown quite substantially already, and they are superior shopping experiences because Apple obviously takes care to make sure that they’re done right. I was in one of my local Apple stores this past weekend to buy an Airport Extreme base station, and the place was packed elbow-to-elbow. And this was in a suburban, not terribly hip area outside of Los Angeles.
Assuming that Steve’s plane back from London doesn’t plunge into the ocean, I have no qualms about Apple’s present or intermediate-term future.
Er… BestBuy? CompUSA? Both of these have sections dedicated to Macs, at least the ones in Boston do. *shrug*
-p-
Apple has got to be the best managed and most profitable computer company on the earth. Does anyone really, seriously, give a damn what their market share is? If you have owned the stock for as long as I have you certainly do not give a single thought to market share.
I’d say – follow the money.
Full disclosuer: I do drive expensive cars that deliver very high performance.
Anyone ever considered the markets Apple chooses to compete in? Or, more importantly, those markets it chooses to ignore?
Follow the money, and the performance you fools.
Maybe only one (or two) official Apple stores in Canada, but a number of Apple authorized dealers. I know of two in Calgary, and there’s likely more elsewhere. Plus you can just pop into a BestBuy if you’re looking for basic Mac stuff.
P-diddy is on the money, it’s like that in Los Angeles too.