What stands in the way of a nation of Macs?

The guy sitting at the table next to mine at the Fair Trade Coffee House here in Madison had a Dell laptop. He asked me for help. It was his son’s computer, he said, and he couldn’t figure out how to make the wifi work. I looked at the screen for a minute and finally said, “I dunno, I’m a Mac guy.”

“Me too,” he said. We both looked around, to see if anybody else on the place was on a Windows machine. No luck. Only Macs in sight.

Now I realize that a coffeehouse in Madison isn’t America. But still, with Apple’s latest blowout earnings report due in large part to big Mac market-share gains, you’ve got to wonder: Is Mac on every table/desk really where we’re headed?

Naah, I don’t believe it either. But what’s gonna stop it?

Update: I’m back at the Fair Trade on Tuesday afternoon, and the current count is eight Macs (mine included) to six Windows laptops.

Update 2: Commenter Dave is right to point out that what stands in the way of a nation of Macs is that Macs now cost much more than Windows machines. (I actually knew that but I thought what’s the point of a blog post that answers its own question.) But of course the high-end segment is much more profitable. And Apple’s dominance there is truly amazing. Philip Elmer-DeWitt reported a couple of weeks ago that Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi Jr. estimates that Apple has a 29.4% market share among laptops in the top price quintile, and a 45.8% (!) market share in that quintile among consumer and education buyers (that is, the people who don’t have to go through humbug corporate IT managers).

Update 3: The Wednesday morning count at the Fair Trade appears to be five Macs to eight Windows laptops. The trend is against them!

Apple CEO Cook Gives Up $75M in Stock Dividends

NEW YORK — Apple CEO Tim Cook is giving up $75 million in dividends on restricted stock that the company is awarding to all of its employees.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Apple Inc. said that Cook requested that his restricted stock units not receive dividends. The dividends that Apple workers are getting amount to $2.65 per quarter for each restricted stock unit held. The shares are not normally eligible to receive dividends, so Apple’s decision is a perk for its employees.

AJ Storrs

I really don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want a Mac, especially now that they can run Windows. With the exception of hard core gamers or specialized users, I don’t know why anyone would buy anything but a Mac. I cant say enough good things about them.

I heard you speak in a Finance class today. It was really interesting to hear about some of the history of financial market research. I’m interested in hearing more about your book. Do you have a website or anything for your book?
http://www.computer.com Yadgyu

A computer is a computer is a computer.
Justin Fox

The website I set up to be about the book is http://www.byjustinfox.com/

Lately it has devolved into something of a cooking blog. But I plan to whip it back into shape soon.
Dave

What stands in the way?

The price.

I recently just bought one of the new macbooks and I’m very satisfied. But not everyone can afford a Mac laptop so they go with Dell or whatever is cheap.

Hopefully Apple will be able to lower their prices but keep their quality high so more people can jump on. The popularity of the ipod and the novelty of the iphone has people interested, but I think most people are inhibited by the price of some of the Macs.
p_lukasiak

“A computer is a computer is a computer.”

precisely. the simple fact is that most people don’t use all the ‘bells and whistles’ that come with a new computer today, and the only significant improvements in PCs that matter to the consumer are storage space, RAM size, and “plug and play.”

I personally loved the computer I had with Windows 95 on it. Sure, it froze up once in a while….fix that, and I’d have been a happy camper.

So unless and until MAC comes WAY down in price, my next computer will be the cheapest reliable one I can find.

(The other thing that you seem to be missing is that portable computers are, as a class, more “high end” than desktop computers — the price differential between a “bare bones” Apple portable and a bare-bores “PC” portable is less than a “bare bones” Apple desktop and a “bare bones” “PC” desktop.)
http://gabezumberge.com Gabe Zumberge

I work in the videogame industry, Nobody uses macs, and it’s mostly the same for other industries that require a high level of customization and processing power.

Macs are great for the masses, but their software and hardware are extremely limiting.

I agree that Macs look cooler, but looks aren’t what’s important when i’m spending thousands of dollars.
http://ederic.tinig.com Ederic

Must be the price, indeed.

In our office, most of those who want to own Mac devices have to get it on installment at the employee’s coop.

I don’t have one yet. :p