Pre-Boot Camp report: Apple could double market share on Microsoft defections

“Consumers are so distrustful of Microsoft that Apple could double its market share due to defections from the Windows operating system, a report by market analysis firm Forrester Research says,” Jim Dalrymple reports for Macworld. “The low scores for Microsoft could mean good news for Apple as consumers showed their distrust of the Redmond-based software-giant.

“’Microsoft faces big consumer defection risk: One measure of consumers’ dissatisfaction with Microsoft is seen in the 5.4 million households that gave it a brand trust of 1 (distrust a lot) or 2 (distrust a bit),’ the report said. ‘Compared with all Microsoft users, these at-risk users have higher income, are much more likely to be male and are bigger online spenders. These households know they run Microsoft software but would be just as happy to leave it behind — if they could. Apple could double its PC share by winning Microsoft’s at-risk customers.’ The demographic of Microsoft’s at-risk customers fits well with Apple’s user base, which Forrester describes as ‘affluent, optimistic about technology and brand aware.’ The study was also done before Apple gave users of its Intel-based Macs the ability to run Windows natively on their computers using a dual-boot configuration [with Boot Camp],” Dalrymple reports.

Full article here.

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22 Comments

  1. Now companies can buy macs and run windows until they find OS X solutions for there software and when that happens they will just re-boot in OS X and forget about Windows – Boot Camp finally will help force companies to create OS X Solutions.

  2. Yeah, right makes a good point, but the fact that Microsoft is a distrusted brand and Apple brand is one of the top recognized brands for quality and innovation doesn’t bode well for Microsoft. I believe that the article is correct. People can only take so much crap before they finally say “Enough is Enough,” and try something different.

  3. I work with about 20 doctors. 2 of them switched under my guidance just before Christmas. One got an iMac, the other an iMac and an iBook. There is one more that is about to buy a iBook. And a number are looking hard at making a Mac their next computer purchase. The Boot Camp news is simply ramping up this process.
    So all that to say, from my limited experience this article is right on!
    Viva Steva!!

  4. I know a number of seemingly intelligent people who, even though they acknowledge Mac is “probably” better, keep buying Windoze machines. Frustrating.

    Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome to me. Or some pretty hardcore B&D. I’m not sure which.

  5. I don’t disagree with Yeah,Right (above),

    However, this is only 85% of the windows users out there.
    What about the 10%-15% of the open minded users that were forced into windows in the past and can appreciate that Mac does it all?

    Doubling market share is not at all unreasonable.

    J Dub

  6. I don’t see the TV ads telling all these unhappy MS Windows users about Mac/Boot Camp and all the wonders it endows on a Mac user.

    Do Windows people have to guess that there’s another way?

  7. Ron – They know. A day after the Boot Camp announcement, i called a die-hard Windoze friend of mine to talk about something non-computer related. He knew about it. Only someone who lives under a rock could possibly have missed it.

  8. Ron.. “Do Windows people have to guess that there’s another way?”

    Aparently yes….

    I walked into a staples this morning and was chatting with the computer sales people. All windows machines, no macs.

    I casually droped a question about support for xp on the mac, and was promptly told that “xp is windows, and macs don’t run windows”….

    there was a lot of head nodding by the other sales people standing arround (it was a slow day). Everyone was convinced that all was right in windows world.

    I then informed them about boot camp and not one of them had heard the news. I actually opened the apple website on one of their work computers and showed it to them, then told them about running the copy of xp I had bought from them the week before on my mac.

    Stunned silence.

    If apple EVER had a chance to get a ton of market share, this is it. Like I’ve posted before, I’ve got 4 friends switching now, and I just added two more this morning. A mom with a daughter going to college. Boot Camp was the key. She’s in real estate and has windows only software, but she wants to video chat with her daughter in college.

    Apple…. advertising to the common denominator in the masses may not be part of your culture, but it is part of the culture of windows. To quote my grand-dad… “if you’re gonna fish for bass son, you can’t use bait meant for trout.”

    Now is the time to strike… ADVERTIZE!!!!!!!

  9. To everyone who wonders why Apple does not currently advertise “Boot Camp,” IT’S BETA! They also don’t support it in their stores for the same reason, even though they could finalize a number of sales from those people that want to go Mac but they need Windows for AutoCad or some other Win-only app.

    word=figure, as in go figure, another story full of whining about Apples lack of advertising.

  10. “I know a number of seemingly intelligent people who, even though they acknowledge Mac is “probably” better, keep buying Windoze machines. Frustrating.” ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”shut eye” style=”border:0;” />

    ME TOO, dammit.

  11. “Consumers are so distrustful of Microsoft that Apple could double its market share due to defections from the Windows operating system,…”

    Nonsense. They’ve BEEN distrustful for years now. Even MORE so in the past few years. Nothing’s changed. John Q. Public CONTINUES to get Windows PCs anyway because they are brainwashed. Sad I know. Apple’s numbers have not skyrocketed to show the alledged “Distrust”. Boot Camp will NOT help this either. Apple needs to get IN THE FACE of consumers through MORE ADS. They don’t run enough media and print ads or run them to SHOW CONSUMERS that Macs CAN do everything they need to get done. That Macs are EASIER than Windows to use. Advertizing has NOT been Apple’s strong suit. Their TV ads are cutesie and that doesn’t cut it. SHOW what the Mac can do. SHOW THEM.

  12. Yeah, but now they’re not forced to buy a Dell, HP or Gateway.

    Now there’s a new choice, an Apple PC. When you put OS-X on it, it’s the machine we all know and love.

    But now, hardcore PC lovers who would never buy a Mac outright, can TRY an Apple computer because it runs their favorite games and office applications NATIVE.

    This won’t put the big PC hardware vendors out of business over night but it’s for damn sure gonna gain SOME marketshare for Apple, and with only 2.5 to 4 percent (depending on who you believe) it would not take much for Apple to DOUBLE their share in a year.

    Microsoft is the virus.

  13. Apple’s market share will probably more than double; it’ll just become harder to estimate what proportion are using OS X as their primary operating system. Web stats will become more important.
    For instance, I’m heartened by Safari’s 3% usage, that means over 3% of computers connected to the Internet are Macs.

  14. This is it, the key to all of that:

    Advertising. Advertising. Advertising. Advertising. Oh, and did I mention advertising?

    Apple needs to put their way of computing and the possibilities into the heads of customers out there.

    Not everyone’s a great newsreader and knows exactly what’s going on in the PC/Mac world. Bet, if I meet up with my friends the next time and tell them that Macs are now the only computers on the planet to both run Mac OS X and Windows natively, this will be heavy news for them?
    I think BootCamp already did a great job – now there’s really no need to purchase a Win PC anymore, just grab a Mac and get a copy of XP (if you need it), and you live happy ever after.

    But Apple should tell people… talk talk talk, make advertisements, don’t just tell the people out there that Macs now come with Intel – the average user isn’t interested in the processor, but he/she’s interested in what a Mac can do more than other computers. That’s the point.

    So just make and broadcast ads ads ads ads ads ads ads… .

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