Thoughts on Apple Market Share
Just rediscovered a site I had put in my blogroll a while back but haven’t been visiting lately, codepoetry. In reading the author (name? who knows, no about link I could see.. bad blogger!) has some interesting points on how apple can increase market share. In short, by eliminating “Mac only” stores. While it’s cool that places that are mac only exist, the sad part is that they seem the only place one can get a decent view of apple hardware and software. In the area here, there are at least a couple in Vancouver, and one in Maple Ridge.
In Abbotsford the only place you will see new Apple stuff (there is a used store) is in either London Drugs or Future Shop, and the sum total of Apple hardware there consists of:
- One iBook
- Two iPods (one old style, one new, both 10G)
- Two iMacs
- One G4 tower
- One LCD panel display
… and all but one of those iMacs was in London Drugs. Yet you go into the Apple store and there are tons of computers, displays, hardware, software….. it’s great. Even if it’s more expensive than x86 hardware, part of the Apple appeal is simply that it’s a hell of a lot sexier than anything the x86 world has to offer, and that fact alone would probably suck people in when seeing the two sets of hardware side by side (even with the price difference). Of course, that would require stores to carry apple software (hehehe, sorry, didn’t mean to giggle there) and all the other stuff, or else they are caught in the trap that no doubt a lot of stores like LD are now, where they have just the hardware and have to send people elsewhere, or convert them to x86 hardware, as they have all the periferals, software, and accessories right there.
Oh, and just to piss off Tig I’ll point to his post on not testing anymore with IE. I don’t totally agree mind you, because I get pissed off when people don’t take a few minutes to test their site in the “other” browser, and it ends up looking like crap and can be fixed easily. Mind you, it’s been a while since I have found a site that doesn’t look fine in whatever browser I’m using (mozilla, ie, opera, safari…).
I would agree with the sentiment that “Apple should be everywhere” except that it has been tried and failed miserably time after time after time. Theoretically Apple had “facetime” in CompUSA, FutureShop, Circuit City, Sears, and other stores, but this has never ever worked.
What ends up happening is that the clerks don’t know dick about Macs, so even though they get more money from selling a Mac, they say, “Macs aren’t compatible with X or Y” and shoot themselves in the foot.
I have had several experiences where I have seen sales reps actually tell FUD agains the Mac platform just to steer people away from it. I have sold more Macs by simply interrupting sales pitches and saying, “that isn’t true, it does X and Y wonderfully, here’s how”.
The reason Apple has gone to the “boutique” style of selling its product is that it has had an uphill battle for YEARS getting other stores to even TRY to train employees on the Mac platform. And even then, how many sales nerds actually run Macs and are thus familiar with them? With the Apple stores at least you have a group of Mac heads that know what the hell they are talking about (mostly), in a place where they are constantly seeing the newest, latest, greatest, awesomest Mac stuff.
Now what I DO agree with is that Apple should make more products like the iPod and make sure those products are everywhere… kinda sneak into the home through the back door.
I m student in Coventry in EEBM and i would like to know about apple :
“The background and history of the market places whitch the compagny is active and specifically that market which you have chosen to study”
It s only scolar!
Thinh you very much
I m student in Coventry in EEBM and i would like to know about apple :
“The background and history of the market places whitch the compagny is active and specifically that market which you have chosen to study”
It s only scolar!
Thinh you very much