Posted on 10/11/2005 12:39:33 PM PDT by Panerai
TheStreet provides an analysis of Apple's current market position with respect to its recent popularity. TheStreet also weighs in on potential product releases at tomorrow's Media event. Despite most recent rumors that the event will simply introduce upgraded regular iPods and new PowerBook/PowerMac (dual Core PPC) configs, the article still speculates on the possibility of a video iPod.
That said, the article provides an interesting statistic from the NPD Group: Through August, Apple's share of the U.S. retail market for computers, excluding online sales, grew to 6.6% from 4.3% in the same period last year, according to market researcher NPD Group.
While the absolute numbers may be up for debate, the relative increase year-over-year is certainly encouraging. Many analysts describe a "halo effect" surrounding the iPod which is said to drive iPod owners to also (or later) purchase Mac computers.
Readers are reminded that Apple will be broadcasting their 4th Quarter Financial Results today at 2pm PT/5pm ET. More details could become available at that time.
I thought they were to debut the OS for Intel machines?................
They have already shown now Tiger for Intel works, but the new Intel machines are still on track for mid 2006 rease. I think they are still waiting on new chips from Intel.
During that same time frame, I have blown hundreds of dollars on my other four PC's trying resolve the monthly crop of software glitches.
Why did I wait so long?
Thank you Apple.
You must be very young.............
"I thought they were to debut the OS for Intel machines?"
They're ditching Motorola for Intel architecture in their own Macintosh line, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for OSX for anybody else. They still appear committed to manufacturing the whole widget.
No OSX for THE REST OF US?..............
So am I..............
15 years for me
I bought my first MAC this summer.
Bought mine three years ago this December
It works right out the box and has not had a single problem.
Almost three years and no problems or crashes
During that same time frame, I have blown hundreds of dollars on my other four PC's trying resolve the monthly crop of software glitches.
Thousands
Why did I wait so long?
Thank you Apple.
Ditto.
"No OSX for THE REST OF US?"
Not to my understanding. Too many variables on "other" boxes that would affect the quality of the experience. Jobs is all about control, and there would be little in that environment.
Probably the Presler-core chips. A 65nm die size and much lower TDP. Could be something else, who knows.
apple will face *huge* competition from Sony (remember them? they invented the walkman and build really high quality stuff too, expensive but cheaper than Apple). they will also face *huge* competition from Pioneer, Toshiba, Panasonic, Creative, iRiver, and of course generic chinese knock-offs, of the aforementioned none may not have a speaker hooked up into the clickwheel, but in general will be what, as much as 80% cheaper?
if the economy were *****REALLY***** booming, folks could afford the extras and extra ergonometric engineering Apple includes in their iPOD for example, if not, if the competition is pretty good, but much cheaper, goodby iPOD advantage.
look at what has happened to iPOD prices the past couple of weeks. they are starting to be discounted... looks like a saturated market to me...
anyway, if Apple depended on the halo effect from iPOD to segue into and sustain an upsurge in their computer sales, fat chance. the halo has all but disipated: iTunes is nice but it isn't THAT nice, sorry...
besides, steve jobs has frequent and repeated tendency to shoot himself in the foot, and i think both the G5 abandonment and the outrageous 10% licensing fee for iPOD compatible gear does not bode well for Apple longer term, i'm sorry.
OSX is an emperor with no clothes. while it is *fabulous* for laptops, it has serious performance problems (check anandtech sometime on how a G5 running OSX compares with the same G5 running with Yellow dog Linux some time -- it is sobering - a hint: G5+OSX isn't a dog because of the G5)
i roll on the floor with laughter when someone brings up the xserve line from Apple. they went all out with the Va Tech cluster, made it into the top five, and sold a few systems because of it. total result a couple of years later?
Apple has three systems in the top 500 clusters. sorry folks, that is pathetic... and now all those altivec optimizations are down the drain... (unless they get ported to the CELL of course ;)
There is no doubt that the massive popularity of the iPod is driving Mac sales. A year ago, I never would have considered buying a Mac. Now that I've had an iPod for about a year, I'm thinking seriously about buying one. The iPod is far and away the most compelling consumer product I have ever purchased. My massive CD collection is now boxed up in storage and I haven't played or purchased a CD in eons.
I now carry the iPod around with thousands of songs and hundreds of those "podcasts" that are taking the world by storm.
I've been in the Consumer Electronics business for 23 years, first in retail and since 1990 in wholesale (including 14 years with Sony) as well as writing technical and product knowledge articles for 6 years for an industry rag, and I completely agree with you. It is simply a cool product and totally intuitive. I picked up a Nano 2 weeks ago and sold my Mini. Superior operational feel as well.
Apple hit it out of the park with iPod and the iTunes software makes aquiring music legally a snap.
Apple has faced huge competition all along, and they have had a respectible margin in the iPod all along. Still, Dell, Creative, Samsung, and Diamond(the guys who invented the mp3 player) haven't been able to make any headway, despite being somewhat cheaper.
One reason why Apple has been doing well in the iPod is that iTunes works much better than any of the other music stores. I've nosed around in Napster and in Rhapsody's online music stores, and none of them hold a candle to the variety and the value iTunes' 99-cents-a-song structure offers. Walmart tried to match Apple's music store, and they haven't gotten any headway, despite being 88-cents-a-song.
The iTunes Music Store is the reason the iPod sells, and will continue to sell. iTunes music is only compatible with iPods, and iPods are not compatible with the other stores. I look around my university, and when I see people wearing headphones, if they are for an mp3 player, the vast majority of times, they are hooked up to an iPod. The iPod has locked up a huge market share of the mp3 player market.
As people buy iPods and buy songs on iTunes, they will find themselves locked into Apple. There are ways to convert a song purchased from iTunes into an mp3 that can go on any mp3 player, but those techniques are cumbersome. Most people, if they need a new mp3 player, will decide it's not worth the trouble and just stick with the iPod.
Apple sells the music on iTunes at a small loss because they recognize its value - it keeps people using iPods. Those iPods are quite profitable for them.
They've been yapping about the "iPod killer" for some time now. Fact is, Sony and the rest haven't done squat and as a result, Apple is now in the dominant position in the MP3 player market with economies of scale that are only now just starting to jell. Consider that from the introduction of the iPod in 2001 to present, Apple moved 22 million iPod products. But 8.5 million of those iPods shipped in the last quarter! In the coming quarter, Apple will likely ship that many in "nanos" alone! Next year at this time, there will be more than 50 million iPods out there and iTunes will be moving millions of songs a day.
In other words, Apple is with the MP3 player today where Sony was with the Walkman back in 1982. Sony and the rest had their chance to compete with the iPod but they blew it. They brought devices to the marketplace that were clunky and cheap by comparison. None of them even came close to providing the iPod "user interface" that has made it such a hit.
Apple is now a juggernaut. Personally, I don't think anybody is going to catch them. Especially after tomorrow's big announcements.
After Hours Buying spree going on right now looks like. GO APPLE!
"I picked up a Nano 2 weeks ago and sold my Mini."
Last week, my 10-year-old and I went shopping for a present for Mom and fully expected to buy her a Nano. After looking at, feeling, and playing both, we opted for a (discounted) Mini. The advantages of the Nano (color screen and flash-drive internals) were outweighed by its size (too small) and the fragility of its outer skin. Interestingly, the salesperson admitted, after some questioning, that the store was seeing an unexpectedly large number of returns on the Nano and now their remaining Minis are flying off the shelf.
"When all is said and done, the history books will record that the invention of the iPod singlehandedly saved Apple."
Before he was stabbed in the back by Turner's thugs,Steve Case predicted the coming of a "personal jukebox" over a dacade ago.
but whoever does Sony marketing must be the same idiot that stuck with betamax after it was clear that format was going nowhere.
the ATTRAC format is a very bad joke, and "sonic soundscape" software that must be used with Sony's iPOD competition is difficult to use and extremely repressive, whereas iTunes is only somewhat repressive. makes you wonder if the sheep will rebel against DRM as envisioned by all the major players, from Intel to Apple to Microsoft to Sony to the RIAA...
but it looks like losing money is making Sony wake up a little. they have *FINALLY* ditched the ATTRAC format and have totally embraced MP3 since nobody likes ATTRAC or uses it, and the next generation of mp3 players from Sony should be much better.
as for iPOD and iTunes being joined at the hip, probably so.
the CD as we know it is a dodo, predictably as the CD is showing its age, and iPod/NET/iTunes is a reasonable paradigm to take its place. the question is whether Apple can sustain iPOD/iTunes sales in the face of both market saturation and competition from other vendors as the economy begins to sour for various reasons... and at the same time the content of the songs offered by iTunes becomes more and more mediocre...
as for Apple following Sony's footsteps, a good cautionary tale given how stagnant Sony marketing innovation has become after their originally brilliant walkman design...
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