Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (172140)	12/6/2002 6:26:06 PM
From: Barry Grossman	Respond to of 186894

Opinion: Crunch Time for Apple story.news.yahoo.com Fri Dec 6, 1:22 PM ET James Maguire, www.osOpinion.com I love Macintosh (news - web sites) computers. I love everything about them: the way they look, the way they operate, even the little sounds they make. When the new Titanium laptop came out, I considered shoplifting for the first time in my life. But my Mac appreciation makes me an odd duck, considering that Mac users have become such a rare breed. According to research firm IDC, Steve Jobs (news - web sites)' company now holds an almost invisible market share, having dwindled to 3.5 percent. Its market share number isn't the only grim statistic for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - news). The company's usually healthy share of the education market -- its savior in the face of close to zero use at the enterprise level -- has eroded. It slid from 37 percent in the 1999-2000 school year to its current level of 26 percent. Of course, the current slump in the PC market doesn't help. Apple has seen its PC sales dip like those of other PC makers. The company's third-quarter profit fell a breathtaking 47.5 percent. Whew. And what about the company's US$50 million ad campaign to lure Windows users to switch? According to one recent report, Apple is converting only 0.9 percent of non-Mac users who visit its Mac stores. (But the commercials were really cool, weren't they? Just like Mac.) What Apple Needs Apple's tiny piece of the market pie could expand if it would do three (difficult) things. First, Apple needs to offer the blazingly fast processor speeds that are available in the PC world. As Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - news) breaks the 3 GHz barrier, making the highest-end Dells and Toshibas faster than a speeding bullet, Apple must be able to make similar claims. Make It Work I don't want to worry that after I plunk down the cash for a Mac (still pricier than its Windows counterpart), I'm going to have to stare longingly at how fast my colleague's Dell (Nasdaq: DELL - news) is moving. Second, Apple needs to embrace Windows compatibility. We're living in a Windows world -- that's a harsh truth, but life isn't always pretty -- and if Apple could offer product that admits this, we users could breathe easier. The company has done this with OS X, but the policy needs to be extended. Take the iPod, for example. Until recently, the iPod could only be used with Macs! How's that for a business strategy? A company launches a snazzy new product in a major growth market, and it's only compatible with 3.5 percent of the buying public. One wonders: Why did the company wait so long to release a Windows-compatible version? And why, with 3.5 percent market share, doesn't Apple ensure that the output of any Mac can be easily read by Windows machines? (Yes, I realize part of the difficulty lies with the Windows software code -- it's not easy to be compatible with Windows. But, as the underdog, the burden falls on Apple.) Bring Down Your Price The third key thing that Apple needs to do may be nearly impossible: Apple computers need to be comparable in price to Windows boxes. That's tough because, among other reasons, Apple doesn't manufacture in the quantities that its competitors do. It was such a disappointment to me recently when I visited a relative, a decades-long Mac partisan, and she had two shiny new Dells in her house. "I just couldn't get this much of a computer for this price in Macintosh," she said. Her comment reveals Mac's real problem, the biggest reason it's probably headed the way of the dinosaur. There are people who don't understand that Mac is so beautiful it's worth the extra money (apparently, about 97 percent of all people don't understand that). So, the challenge Apple faces is a tough one. It has to offer Macs at prices comparable with Windows, at speeds as fast as those of Windows-based PCs, with complete Windows compatibility. If it can't do that, the brand will simply fade away, a quarter of a percentage point at a time. I'll miss it.