7 ms·

Mac OS X approaches 8 percent market share

24 points by parenthesis 18y ago

pchristensen 18y ago
Wasn't it around 3% for a long, long time? That's an impressive jump. I wonder how much is because of Apple and how much is people avoiding Vista?
- eugenejen 18y ago
  It actually makes no difference. Competitors fight for money in a market. Whoever makes less mistake then grabs more gold. It feels like baseball games between Red Sox and Yankees. But this game will never ends until PC fades. We should cross check market share change of Linux Desktop at the same time. I think due to Vista's snafu, both Linux Desktop and OS X gain market shares. But it seems OS X grabs much more than Linux Desktop does.
  - iron_ball 18y ago
    And that's totally bizarre, because I've seen people wearing Linux-branded portable music players everywhere, and I've seen Linux distro logos in major motions pictures and even Metal Gear Solid 4. Given Linux's all-encompassing focus on making their software beautiful and easy to use, and their extensive TV and print ad campaigns, I'm amazed we haven't seen a major uptick in installs.
    - eugenejen 18y ago
      Are you serious or being irony? Your last paragraph makes senses if you replace Linux to OS x. At least in U.S. :-) We often thought marketing doesn't matter to tech product. But I think marketing matters. But even marketing matters, if the product doesn't match expectation, the product will not go anywhere. The best marketing is done by users. When people see others constantly use Windows XP, they use Windows XP. When people see others use iPod, they use it. When people see others use Google, they use Google. It may be a herd effect. But most users don't care the subtlety. They have too much to worry in their life. Gadget, personal computer, Internet are just part of their life.
    - st3fan 18y ago
      """Given Linux's all-encompassing focus on making their software beautiful and easy to use""" Personally I find Linux desktops to be extremely frustrating, buggy, inconsistent and not well designed. Many applications are ugly. If you live in a terminal/firefox world you probably won't notice this though :-) S.
      - wheels 18y ago
        Whoosh!
    - daniel-cussen 18y ago
      I remember trying to install Linux...on my particular computer, it took ages, and never really worked.
      - convolver 18y ago
        ...
- Tamerlin 18y ago
  It wasn't really a jump. Apple's market share has been growing more or less steadily since the switch to Intel. IMO I don't think that Vista has had much of an effect on mac sales; it's primary competitor has been XP. All else aside, I'm sure that a significant factor has been the fact that you can run software for Windows on an Intel-based mac without emulation overhead. Another factor that I'm sure hasn't hurt is that after the transition to Intel systems, the macs reached something close to price parity with the Windows OEM's. In some cases, the mac ends up being the less expensive option (specifically, the Xeon-based rigs), which is also new territory for Apple.
st3fan 18y ago
Can we throw a huge world-wide party when 'we' reach 10%? I will personally buy a crate of champagne to share with people in the Toronto area ;)
- halo 18y ago
  I don't think I'll ever understand this. Unless you own shares, one company's success over another isn't really anything worth celebrating. This isn't a good vs. evil situation no matter how much some people want to paint it that way. Personally, I'm just happy that I can use any of the 3 major OSes these days without a problem, which is largely thanks to FireFox eating IE's marketshare on Windows.
  - jobeirne 18y ago
    It's analogous to seeing a really brilliant friend experience deserved, widespread success. It's a satisfying feeling to see earned triumph in any circumstance.
    - hugh 18y ago
      Except that your brilliant friend, being your friend, gives a damn about you personally, and Mac OS X, being an operating system, doesn't.
      - aaronblohowiak 18y ago
        Do you use windows? Compared to that user experience, Mac OS X is a whole lot more personable.
      - Hexstream 18y ago
        If it's the case that someone has Vista misbehave continually in numerous ways and feels like the OS doesn't care, then if Mac OSX is a much more pleasant experience to that user then he will feel like the OS cares.
  - cstejerean 18y ago
Hexstream 18y ago
Soon we'll see whether or not Apple gets viruses proportional to its marketshare. This old, tired debate has been going on for way too long.
- nailer 18y ago
  Apple doesn't get viruses proportional to its marketshare at present. Neither do most Linux distros. In terms of majority market share, it's already been proven bunk for server software by Linux and Apache.
gojomo 18y ago
I remember when Apple "approached" an 8 percent share from the other direction. :(

24 points by parenthesis 18y ago

Wasn't it around 3% for a long, long time? That's an impressive jump. I wonder how much is because of Apple and how much is people avoiding Vista?

eugenejen 18y ago
It actually makes no difference. Competitors fight for money in a market. Whoever makes less mistake then grabs more gold. It feels like baseball games between Red Sox and Yankees. But this game will never ends until PC fades. We should cross check market share change of Linux Desktop at the same time. I think due to Vista's snafu, both Linux Desktop and OS X gain market shares. But it seems OS X grabs much more than Linux Desktop does.
- iron_ball 18y ago
  And that's totally bizarre, because I've seen people wearing Linux-branded portable music players everywhere, and I've seen Linux distro logos in major motions pictures and even Metal Gear Solid 4. Given Linux's all-encompassing focus on making their software beautiful and easy to use, and their extensive TV and print ad campaigns, I'm amazed we haven't seen a major uptick in installs.
  - eugenejen 18y ago
    Are you serious or being irony? Your last paragraph makes senses if you replace Linux to OS x. At least in U.S. :-) We often thought marketing doesn't matter to tech product. But I think marketing matters. But even marketing matters, if the product doesn't match expectation, the product will not go anywhere. The best marketing is done by users. When people see others constantly use Windows XP, they use Windows XP. When people see others use iPod, they use it. When people see others use Google, they use Google. It may be a herd effect. But most users don't care the subtlety. They have too much to worry in their life. Gadget, personal computer, Internet are just part of their life.
  - st3fan 18y ago
    """Given Linux's all-encompassing focus on making their software beautiful and easy to use""" Personally I find Linux desktops to be extremely frustrating, buggy, inconsistent and not well designed. Many applications are ugly. If you live in a terminal/firefox world you probably won't notice this though :-) S.
    - wheels 18y ago
      Whoosh!
  - daniel-cussen 18y ago
    I remember trying to install Linux...on my particular computer, it took ages, and never really worked.
    - convolver 18y ago
      ...
Tamerlin 18y ago
It wasn't really a jump. Apple's market share has been growing more or less steadily since the switch to Intel. IMO I don't think that Vista has had much of an effect on mac sales; it's primary competitor has been XP. All else aside, I'm sure that a significant factor has been the fact that you can run software for Windows on an Intel-based mac without emulation overhead. Another factor that I'm sure hasn't hurt is that after the transition to Intel systems, the macs reached something close to price parity with the Windows OEM's. In some cases, the mac ends up being the less expensive option (specifically, the Xeon-based rigs), which is also new territory for Apple.

st3fan 18y ago

Can we throw a huge world-wide party when 'we' reach 10%? I will personally buy a crate of champagne to share with people in the Toronto area ;)

halo 18y ago
I don't think I'll ever understand this. Unless you own shares, one company's success over another isn't really anything worth celebrating. This isn't a good vs. evil situation no matter how much some people want to paint it that way. Personally, I'm just happy that I can use any of the 3 major OSes these days without a problem, which is largely thanks to FireFox eating IE's marketshare on Windows.
- jobeirne 18y ago
  It's analogous to seeing a really brilliant friend experience deserved, widespread success. It's a satisfying feeling to see earned triumph in any circumstance.
  - hugh 18y ago
    Except that your brilliant friend, being your friend, gives a damn about you personally, and Mac OS X, being an operating system, doesn't.
    - aaronblohowiak 18y ago
      Do you use windows? Compared to that user experience, Mac OS X is a whole lot more personable.
    - Hexstream 18y ago
      If it's the case that someone has Vista misbehave continually in numerous ways and feels like the OS doesn't care, then if Mac OSX is a much more pleasant experience to that user then he will feel like the OS cares.
- cstejerean 18y ago

Hexstream 18y ago

Soon we'll see whether or not Apple gets viruses proportional to its marketshare. This old, tired debate has been going on for way too long.

nailer 18y ago
Apple doesn't get viruses proportional to its marketshare at present. Neither do most Linux distros. In terms of majority market share, it's already been proven bunk for server software by Linux and Apache.

gojomo 18y ago

I remember when Apple "approached" an 8 percent share from the other direction. :(