In 2007, “Apple went from nearly no market share in the business industry, to 4.2 percent [a threefold increase],” Jason Mick reports for DailyTech.
“To put this in perspective Vista was only able to eke out a 6.3 percent market share despite its heavy business marketing and dominant position,” Mick reports.
Mick asks, “So do those numbers indicate a Mac OS close to tying a Microsoft OS? Why hasn’t this been the front page news of every tech column (especially when OS X’s nearly insignificant consumer market gains were heavily reported)?”
“The reason is despite the success, analysts have dismissed it and these analysts frequently drive what is reported in the tech news, more than some would like to admit,” Mick writes. “And the analysts just don’t like Apple’s business efforts… Apple simply has no respect from business analysts as a serious business solution. Analyst opinions of Apple in the consumer market versus the business market are night and day.”
Mick writes, “In market analysis the one thing you can usually trust is hard numbers. When it comes to sales data it seems that analysts should be cheering Apple’s business efforts, and perhaps jeering its consumer OS efforts, where gains have been much more lackluster. Unfortunately, they appear to be doing the opposite.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Scott” for the heads up.]
Joe Wilcox blogs for eWeek, “The perception problem is wholly Apple’s fault, which is evidenced by the brand’s remarkable resurgence among consumers. Apple does something well that Microsoft does poorly: advertise. Apple floods TV’s prime time with ads for the iPhone, iPod Touch and MacBook Air and those hilarious, PC-jabbing ‘Get a Mac’ commercials. Apple’s marketing is simple, memorable and focused on user benefits. It’s no wonder, with Apple retail stores and the popularity of the iPod as two other factors, that the marketing works so well.”
“In contrast, Apple’s business marketing is all but absent,” Wilcox writes. “Marketing works, and Jobs’ executive team knows this. So why is there so little for the business market? It’s Apple’s choice. For any company selling products, perception is everything. With Apple silent, Windows PC resellers and ill-informed IT managers are free to perpetuate myths about the Mac’s business suitability. There’s the perception that Macs aren’t compatible and that they’re hard to manage—Maclore.”
Wilcox writes, “The iPhone is key to change. Much will depend on the iPhone 2.0 software, Exchange synchronization capability, the iPhone SDK’s (software development kit’s) in-house developer extensibility and whether or not Apple does some real business marketing for its products. Even without the marketing, the iPhone has enough business appeal to increase IT organizational exposure to Apple products.”
“That said, it’s inexcusable that a brand with such consumer appeal, from a company that sells enterprise-grade software, has so little business cred. Negative perceptions about Vista put Windows in a vulnerable position. Since most businesses have to buy new hardware and brave through applications compatibility problems, the cost advantage of Windows diminishes. Apple shouldn’t let this business sales opportunity pass by,” Wilcox writes. “The time is long past for Apple to chip away the business perception crud.”
Full article here.
“Why hasn’t this been the front page news of every tech column (especially when OS X’s nearly insignificant consumer market gains were heavily reported)?””
those nearly insignificant gains are actually rather nice, AND come at a time other computer companies are seeing slow downs.
while it is nice he sees the business adoption, it is a shame he doesn’t get the whole picture…..
“There’s the perception that Macs aren’t compatible and that they’re hard to manage—Maclore.”
Would that be Troy Maclore?
In my small software development business, we run 7-MacBook Pros, 2-Windows XP Desktops, 4-Mac Pros, 2-Apple Xserves, and 5-Linux Servers. And, as a bonus, I don’t have a dedicated IT person.
That means I’m 65% Mac.
I love my world…
Oooooo hard numbers, well that keeps the microsoftie boy crying Lemmings out of the picture.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Patients my young padawan….patients….
eMax,
“Patience”?
From Doctor OB-G Wan
Most people just do not get it. They use numbers and big is the only thing that they look at.
Apple has no desire to try and sell to companies where the only thing a purchasing agent sees is dollars on a PO. HP and Dell compete on selling crap. They lose money and have to make it up on higher level systems. Apple does not. Apple is (as Steve Jobs once said) NOT in the market to sell crap.
en
I wanted to become a doctor but I didn’t have the patience.
Hey it is friday….let’s all leave our business Mac computers and skip out early and go for a beer!
With all the time, money, and effort that the enterprise spends on anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc. You would think that switching would be a no brainer.
Our work PCs are so bogged down with security that I leave it on over night because we do not want to wait 2 to 3 minutes for it to boot up in the morning. Leave it to the bean counters not to figure that one out.
“business industry”
WTF? Can’t these idiots use English?
What, pray tell, is so lackluster about Apple’s “consumer OS efforts”?
The artical id right though. Apple doesn’t market to business (except creatives). And I agree the seeds of change are in iPhone firmware 2. What’ s the point in trying to challenge Windows’ stranglehold on commercial PCs? RIM and WM are far softer targets to go for. And if Apple can establish dominance there, and keep thinking of iPhone as a ‘platform’. They might catch the same sort of wave that M$ caught when the PC platform took over from mainframes in business.
OS X tripled?
So now it’s OS XXX?
No Buster, you didn’t have the brains or the talent.
Mama lied to you. Again.
Great job Apple. Gaining triple numbers is monumental when pitted against a MONOPOLY. This news should not be taken lightly. Also all these journalist should also point out that Apple made these huge gains despite MS MONOPOLY that continues to be allowed by the government.
ChrissyOne,
good comments on the iTunes tax story….
@Buster,
I have always told my residents, “He who has no patience has no patients.”
@TT,
Only if the OS was written by me.
When you try to be great at everything, you become good for nothing. Right now Apple is focused on the consumer market. And they are doing a brilliant job in capturing that market. Just running a bunch of ads for business might actually muddy people’s image of Apple and be counter-productive.
I agree with Joe Wilcox that the iPhone is the Trojan horse that will bring the Mac to Enterprise. 1) iPHone gets Enterprise. 2) iPhone gets killer applications. 3) iPhone applications get ported to the Mac (rather than the norm where applications are ported from the computer to the mobile device). 4) Businesses that are exposed to the iPhone and like what they see start clamoring for Mac support.
We’ll see…
What’ll be REALLY interesting is perusing those same chart numbers a year from now.
Macheads know what’s coming but the great unwashed masses have no idea what’s about to hit ’em.
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
Best of luck, Cubert. Congratulations.
In the past, the opposite effect was true and the business use of PCs had a strong effect on consumer choice. Since Intel Macs can natively run Windows the tables have turned somewhat and the consumer market can drive the business market a bit.
The iPod was/is Apple’s foot in the door for the consumer Mac market.
The iPhone is serving the same function for the business market, and that impact will radically increase once new iPhone apps start rolling out based on the June SDK release.
@ Jubei
That is an excellent point. Only yesterday Red Hat was announcing that it was stepping back from its Consumer Desktop Linux efforts, citing (among other factors) the difficulties of competing in a desktop environment which “suffers from having one dominant vendor”.
A *free* desktop OS is struggling to compete against Windows – that’s how much of an uphill climb it really is against Microsoft.
And yet Apple is succeeding in this exact same environment. This is indeed news which should not be taken lightly.