Survey Shows Increasing Mac Interest

Increased marketshare is good, up to a point. Also, if world marketshare is staying the same, but the US is increasing, somewhere in the world apple is becoming less popular.

I'm becoming sure that however many Macs Apple sells, that market share figure will never climb above the magic 5% limit.

Does saying that make me one of those Mac Zealots I keep hearing about?

i cant believe how low the world marketshare is after a good few years now of ipod halo etc etc...

It's interesting how large the magnitude of disconnect between the planned purchase estimates and the actual marketshare is for Macs (e.g.. 17-18% of people planning to buy computers state they will get a Mac, but only 5-7% actually do). In contrast the numbers later for HP seem relatively close to their actual marketshare numbers.

They don't offer an interpretation, but one tempting one is that people who are very strongly considering getting a Mac get dissuaded as they get immediately close to purchase, to a much greater extent than PC buyers.

i cant believe how low the world marketshare is after a good few years now of ipod halo etc etc...

I can. The iPod halo doesn't work without going hand in hand with the Apple Stores. If people are buying their iPods from shops that don't stock Macs, their opinions on Macs never change. If they buy an iPod from an Apple Store and see Macs all around doing everything their Windows computer can do and more, they become more open to buying a Mac next time a computer purchase comes round.

Apple need to open more international Stores if they want the worldwide share to increase.

People with PCs must not leave their houses much...I've been to coffee shops and airports all over, and it seems about half of the laptops I see are Apple.

Meanwhile, according to IDC, Apple's U.S. marketshare was 4.8% in the second quarter, up from 4.4% a year ago, while its worldwide marketshare remains at 2.5%.

Everything seems lined up to finally make significant progress (read double market share, from 4%-8%) in the next five years, but I believe Apple still needs to address the general public's price objection issue. Vista will push a huge number of PC users to the Mac platform, but it's not going to happen overnight.

I also think Mac users get the Mac value proposition, but I still have a lot of acquaintances that would rather pay less for a PC because they've never given Apple the chance to prove exactly why there's a premium to own an entry-level Mac.

Apple has done a lot to quell this argument, with high end Macs spec'ing out dollar-for-dollar either equal to or lower than the competition, but Apple still doesn't have a highly desirable and successful Switch machine (or campaign). For whatever reason(s) the Mac mini isn't that machine.

I can. The iPod halo doesn't work without going hand in hand with the Apple Stores. If people are buying their iPods from shops that don't stock Macs, their opinions on Macs never change. If they buy an iPod from an Apple Store and see Macs all around doing everything their Windows computer can do and more, they become more open to buying a Mac next time a computer purchase comes round.

Apple need to open more international Stores if they want the worldwide share to increase.

Amen to that. The Mac buying experience here in Aus is exactly as you describe. 99% of the iPods bought are from department stores or tech shops - not a Mac in sight.

Bring on the Apple Store Sydney - damn it would be good. Such an amazing place to put a flagship store in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

It would be interesting to separate out the corporate vs. personal computer purchases. It is hard for Mac to get much above 5% when corporate puchases are included. BTW, it would be interesting to see how many of those "computers" are just dumb terminals used in stores and schools etc.

Remember, there are lies and there are statistics. :rolleyes:

I think Apple needs to start attracting the business aspect of the world. It is so Windows-dominated right now, it's ridiculous. Am I right?:confused:


I don't know many people that own a Mac. Seriously. Off the top of my head, there are 7-8 people I know that have a PC, and half of those are dells.

Why the hell do I own a Mac? Stability. I've gone through 4 years of Windows. I don't need viruses, etc. This is a hassle free OS.


Apple needs to open more Apple Stores, show people there are better things than Windows.