
Apple declares war on the entire PC industry - fiaz
http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/Apple-declares-war-on-the-entire-PC-industry/1256063102
======
heresyforme
MS is missing a huge opportunity. While Apple may be reaching the tech savvy
and elite, MS needs to market to the "everyday average normal guy". Look at
the Chevy "Like a friggin' rock" commercials. Is that guy going to buy some
namby-pamby macbook if there's a real man's alternative somewhere?

Instead of two nerds making passive-aggressive beta-male comments to each
other in the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials; imagine replacing the nerd
with a Brett Farve type of guy. Not only is he an alpha male, but he's
intelligent enough to be successful.

~~~
gaius
_everyday average normal guy_

Said guy's too busy listening to his iPod ;-)

Seriously, tho', Apple has simply chosen not to compete in many of the markets
MS sells into. There's no Mac for gamers, for example, Apple simply aren't
interested. They aren't interested in selling into corporate desktops either.
There's no technical reason Apple couldn't flog 20,000 desktops to Boeing to
use as Unix workstations, for example.

That's the secret, really. You don't have to be tech savvy or elite to use a
Mac. You just have to be in a sector that Apple is interested in. A non-
technical entry-level graphic designer is going to be using a Mac 'cos it's
the right tool for the job, as is a hardcore geek who wants a decent Unix
laptop.

~~~
absconditus
What is a veteran graphic designer going to be using?

~~~
gaius
My point was that eliteness is nothing to do with Mac usage.

------
jacquesm
Mac == PC (Personal Computer).

I think the author meant to say on Microsoft.

~~~
junklight
I think it shows great restraint - the headline for an article like this if it
was someones blog would be "Why Microsoft is dead" or "how Apple won the
windows 7 war".

~~~
iuybuyvvyu
Microsoft will still make more money from Windows7 than Apple makes form
selling computers. They made more from Vista than Apple makes.

There is a big difference between 'fails with the HN/Slashdot crowd' and fails
to make money.

~~~
prewett
"Microsoft will still make more money from Windows7 than Apple makes form
selling computers. They made more from Vista than Apple makes."

Probably true, but it may be closer than you think. According to Yahoo, AAPL
had $4.8 billion in profit. According to MSFT's annual report, Windows profit
was $10 billion. Some of that is XP sales, so lets say $8 billion for Vista.
It took Microsoft 5 years to make Vista, and Apple easily cranks out new
versions on gorgeous hardware and makes 50% of Vista's profit. Plus, the
Windows sales derivative is flat to negative, while Apple's is steeply
positive. Microsoft may be making tons of money, but from a business
perspective, Apple is a better business.

~~~
iuybuyvvyu
Always tricky to get real figures, a lot of Apple's revenue comes from
iphone/itunes and the details of the deals aren't public.

MS also has a lot of income from licenses/service/support it would still make
money for years if it fired all it's devs tomorrow.

The point was that hype aside, an MS 'flop' still makes more money than you
can imagine.

------
Tichy
Why are netbooks only the problem of the PC industry? Surely they
"cannibalize" Mac sales just as they cannibalize PC sales. Except for the
people who would buy Macs no matter what.

~~~
idlewords
Apple sells a high-end product; anyone who might be tempted away by a netbook
would likely have already been tempted away by a lower-cost PC. It's the same
reason that inexpensive Japanese cars don't cannibalize BMW sales.

~~~
Tichy
Still, it seems weird to put those into different categories. There could be a
PC maker creating expensive PCs that don't compete with netbooks. In fact,
there probably are (for example creating high end PCs for architecture and
film editing). That PC maker would not be cannibalized by netbook sales.

Maybe if it is Microsoft vs Apple they are talking, but MS also sells stuff
for netbooks.

Also, if there were no netbooks and no PCs, there probably would be more Apple
sales. So Apple loses sales to PCs and therefore also to netbooks.

------
olliesaunders
What is the article even talking about? Netbooks are destroying things?
Netbooks are the best thing to happen for ages.

~~~
mikedouglas
From the article:

    
    
        [Netbooks] are cannibalizing Windows PC sales at an alarming
        rate. By comparison, laptops commanded higher margins and
        average selling prices when their popularity started to
        increase. PC manufacturers -- and even Microsoft -- benefited
        from notebooks' reversing the trend of falling computer ASPs;
        for a time. By comparison, netbooks are a plague, because
        they dramatically lower ASPs and margins and pull away sales
        from real laptops.

~~~
junklight
They are "a plague" for hardware manufacturers. For the ordinary user - a
great many of who only really use their computers to read email, access
facebook and watch youtube clips - I suspect they are ideal.

~~~
netsp
They seem to agree

------
Robin_Message
I wonder if Apple will try and ruin Microsoft's parade tomorrow by announcing
the Tablet?

~~~
axod
Don't believe the tablet hype. The only people who want such a thing are the
few people blogging about it all the time. (And of course hype is good for
getting readers/attention/subscribers etc) (Or trying to justify their own
tablet - crunchpad? "Best product of 2009"?!??
[http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4332415.h...](http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/upgrade/4332415.html))

The usefulness of a 'too big for your pocket, half a laptop that you have to
hold' device are minimal. Maybe they'll surprise everyone and come out with a
tablet, but I really doubt it.

~~~
me325r4534534
I'm not disagreeing, but just remember - I heard tons of comments like this
about the "iPhone" years before it was actually released. So there very well
may be a "iTab" on its way.

~~~
Tichy
Apple was almost forced to create the iPhone, though: much of it's access came
from the iPod, but phones were getting better and better at playing music,
too.

