I predict that it will not be long before the iPod is responsible for a larger share of Apple's earnings than Macintosh desktops.
For that to happen Apple must stay on its toes, upgrading frequently and pricing aggresively. Otherwise they'll leave the door wide open for Sony or some-such to walk through.
would Apple then gain market share? If so, where, desktops or servers? Education, home, or business?
A really fast machine makes more users consider an upgrade, so we would see a one time jump on users upgrading. This would give Apple bigger "market share" in terms of units sold, but I don't think there are any potential switchees out there whose reason not to switch is that Apple's are not fast enough.
The road for Apple recovery of market share lies, in the short term, with people who are not currently window users. This includes gramma who might be using a windows machine that directly boots "into AOL" so she can see her grand children pictures. It also includes Unix hackers who are looking for a better Unix experience.
But the main stream Window user won't switch until a killer Mac app is developed. This is not likely to happen any time soon. The Mac has never had an edge in developing applications. (Objective C was a great step forward when it came out over ten years ago with the Next, but as far as I know now it is a more-or-less standard development tool). |
