Don -
Re: "How Apple Could Mess Up, Again"
Or not.
Christensen makes some interesting points. However, I think that there's a very big difference between holding on to a proprietary model in computers and doing so with an mp3/video player.
In my opinion his argument that Apple can't continue to grow their market share because "a good Dell PC can be had for $500, and it has performance that's well beyond what most of us need", is just wrong. It's demonstrably wrong, because that Dell has been available all along, yet Apple is regaining market share. Saying that most people are satisfied with their PCs ignores the growing numbers of people who are absolutely not satisfied, because they can't deal with the viruses, spyware, and attendant software nightmares.
I have a web design client who spent the entire weekend trying to reanimate his Toshiba laptop, and eventually having to wipe his disk clean and start over again. There's a fun process, when you're dealing with Windows. All he did was to try to install an upgrade to Norton Antivirus. The system crashed when it rebooted itself, and then would not boot, despite the best efforts of Microsoft and Symantec tech support.
The good news is that at my urging, he had bought a WD external hard drive, and had backed up the computer only last month. The bad news is that even with a backup, Windows takes forever to reinstall, and all applications have to be reloaded, too. (FYI, doing a full restore on a Mac takes a LOT less time, since applications, drivers, and preferences can be restored along with data. Now there's a dime's worth of difference for you.)
Knowing I'm a Mac guy, he called me up today to ask about how difficult it would be to switch. His chief concern was whether all his Microsoft Office documents would be accessible on a Mac. When I assured him that they could, he decided his next computer will come from Apple.
- Allen |
