Mac vs PC: How much has the Vista backlash helped Apple?
Alex Kidman
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Nov 18, 2008 12:25 PM
Are customers moving to Apple because of Vista, or are other factors at play? Alex Kidman looks at the real reason for Apple's revival.
Common wisdom would have it that one reason why Apple's market share in the wild (and often unpredictable) world of computer sales has increased so much in ...
Are customers moving to Apple because of Vista, or are other factors at play? Alex Kidman looks at the real reason for Apple's revival.
Common wisdom would have it that one reason why Apple's market share in the wild (and often unpredictable) world of computer sales has increased so much in recent years has been to do with the market's general rejection of Windows Vista. It's certainly a comparison that Apple itself isn't shy about promoting, given that's one of the main thrusts of most of its "Get A Mac" ads.
I'm left wondering, however, how true that comparison is, and whether Apple's market share is down to other, non-Vista related factors.
Not that customers don't seem to (at least anecdotally) dislike Vista. Heck, even Microsoft seems to be according it the kind of leper status that I've not seen the company adopt since the dim, dark days of Windows ME.
Just look at the almost unseemly rush to get as many headlines for Windows 7 as it can, while quietly whistling nonchalantly whenever Vista's mentioned.
Vista was meant to "replace" XP, and yet you can still (sometimes with a little tweaking or downgrading) get XP on a "new" PC -- and particularly easily on a netbook. That's an operating system that Microsoft's been supplying and supporting for seven years. Even if you took the manufacturing release date of Vista (rather than the retail one), as your starting point, Microsoft would have to be shifting Vista boxes well into 2013. To put it politely, that doesn't seem likely.
My own Apple experiences started by reviewing Apple hardware up against the competition, something that became a whole lot easier once Apple shifted to Intel-based hardware. As I used OS X on a Macbook, I became more and more aware of how OS X wasn't crashing on me, or needing AV updates, or horrible program conflicts, or having sound drop out on me, or... and the list continued. I took the plunge and shifted my working platform over to the Mac, although I do still run Windows PCs as well for reviewing and testing purposes.
And all of that happened well before the general release of Vista.
Of those I've spoken to who have jumped over to a Mac, a general dislike of Windows (sometimes quite well and specifically founded, other times less so) seems to be the prevailing mood, rather than a specific dislike of Vista per se. Many Windows users I know have rejected Vista, admittedly. But more of them have tended to stick with XP than jump over to Apple as a sum total.
I suspect it's more accurate to say that Apple's marketing campaigns (which admittedly do target Vista, but also point out program compatibility, simple applications and the kind of things that general computer users are after), tied into the incredible success of the iPod brand, has had a great deal more to do with Apple's increased market share than Vista per se.
It's a bit of a tightrope walk, however, especially against the new pricing regime for Macbooks and Macbook Pros, which (until or unless other vendors are forced to up prices in response to the Australian dollar), make them a tougher buy for the undecided computer user.