There’s an interesting stat over on PC World about the relative growth of the number of Apple computer users that browse the web versus Windows operated PC users. In December, 88.7% of the people who browsed monitored Web sites did so using machines powered by Windows - the first time the number of users has dipped below 90%. Meanwhile PC World reports that Apple’s Mac OS X’s share of web users is growing - with 9.6% of web users users.
While we regularly hear stories about Apple’s creep into Microsoft’s market - what’s interesting is that these figures report on what could be considered ‘living computers’ rather than ‘dead’ ones. There’s often a lot of talk about how small Apple’s share and that it doesn’t really matter to Microsoft. The thing is that the published stats often count all the machines stuck in aging office blocks that lack web access. Isn’t it time to only consider a computer is really a computer if it has web access? Thinking like that might make Microsoft care a little more about its share.
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Well it’s all a matter of perspective. Apple manufacturers sells both machine and OS, while MS only sells the operating systems. And since there the bulk of their business is the office sector, then they should count those machines which aren’t accessing the internet from 5-9, nor the countless other machines that handle other tasks which don’t require internet access. All those render farms for Pixar and the like, probably no internet, probably do run Windows.
I’m sure the personal computer use statistics are significantly closer, but it’s not representative of MS’s demographic, which is probably why they don’t care. And you should probably try and look at the converse statistics as well, how many of those “dead” computers does apple have in offices?
January 5th, 2009 at 10:01 am
blahhh, proof read after you’ve had coffee…
I apologize for the grammar, but the point is still valid.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:03 am
And does the iPhone/WinCE Smartphone also count as a computer in this “market share” stat at this point? With my iPod I can browse the web, edit spreadsheets and word documents, download and listen to music, install software, play games…so tell me why the iPhone or iPod Touch isn’t considered as real a computer as a netbook or desktop with monitor and keyboard is.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Windows share dropped below 90% in November. December was the first month when combined OS X and Mobile OS X share topped 10%.
insanely-great.com/news.php?id=9934
insanely-great.com/news.php?id=10026
And, yes, why are 486s that are print servers counted as “personal computers”? Doesn’t make much sense…
January 5th, 2009 at 11:57 am
” With my iPod I can browse the web, edit spreadsheets and word documents, download and listen to music, install software, play games…so tell me why the iPhone or iPod Touch isn’t considered as real a computer as a netbook or desktop with monitor and keyboard is”
It is…this report is on use by OS (short for: Operating System) your semIPhone and yawnPOD run on macOS. winCE phones run on…
Besides that: “And, yes, why are 486s that are print servers counted as “personal computers”? Doesn’t make much sense…”
What does your quoted use of “personal computers” mean here? Last I checked PC didn’t stand for Personal Computer, it was an all inclusive term used to denote IBM-Compatible machines.
In reality, a personal computer can be defined as any computing device intended for non-commercial use. As such, my GPS is a personal computer, as is my abacus.
The real question here is that as everything becomes compatible with itself, and apple runs x86 and everyone works on having OSX port over onto anything…in enough time, there will be standard hardware and the only thing distinguishing a PC from a MAC will be the obnoxious ‘better-than-you-because-im-wiser-and-on-the-rise’ attitude that seems to come with the 30% markup apple feeds their hardware.
January 6th, 2009 at 11:42 am