How big do we want Apple's market share of computer sales to become?

[miamialley]

I was just wondering about the pros and cons of Apple computers becoming more popular. I liked the Apple laptop being more rare, but walk through Starbucks or a college campus and they're all over.

1) How large will Apple's market share become in the next 5, 10 years?
2) How large do we want it to become? (and why)

 

[iStudentUK]

Community discussion better place?

I think it will continue to grow. It is around 10% in US and 5% worldwide right?

I can see those figures doubling in the next 10 years. Although Apple is not going to make headway in the business market (except maybe very small ones) as it is too expensive and the business world is very much windows based.

I would not want Apple to dominate the market- I think 20-25% would be great. That would be enough that it is worth developing software, training call centre staff on Mac etc whilst not being so big that Apple can slow down its innovation. Apple is not for everyone and I don't recommend it to everyone I know- some people only need a cheap windows machine and having that option is important.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

The more the better.

 

[eternlgladiator]

bigger market share to could help keep their prices down in the long run and eventually lead to apple being even more competitive with other platforms and thus start gaining eve more market share. It's a win win for everybody.

 

[KingYaba]

bigger market share to could help keep their prices down in the long run

That will never happen so long as Mr. Jobs is at the helm.

 

[roadbloc]

That will never happen.

Fix'd. Why would Apple reduce their tax on their products when more people are buying them? All the more reason not to.

 

[ucfgrad93]

As an Apple shareholder, I want them to get as big as possible.

 

[KnightWRX]

Big enough that they concentrate worth a damn on the Mac again.

 

[eternlgladiator]

That will never happen so long as Mr. Jobs is at the helm.

I didn't mean decrease them but inflation says that the prices will rise over time. By having more customers they can get better economies of scale in their production of hardware and software and at least maintain pricing strategies that are in use right now. I'm not saying apple items will ever be cheaper than the competition. I'm saying that if in 10 years things are still priced the same and their market share has gone up you will know everyone is saving money.

 

[smithrh]

I think this is an interesting topic.

There's some fear that if any one company grows too powerful, that it will eventually abuse that power. You can see that meme in a lot of fanboys on the "other side."

I would hope - and it may just be a hope - that as Apple grows larger that it avoids those and other similar pitfalls and is overall more benevolent than malevolent. Unfortunately, history tends to show us that over time there is decay in the organization and that cracks can appear very quickly.

We also see that good organizations go bad, and if they're smart, they get good again. We've seen this in Apple before (think Sculley), as well as hosts of other companies that managed to trap lightning in a bottle, at least for a while.

Much of this will depend on how Job's successors perform. If they maintain the vision and ideals, then things will continue to grow for quite a long time. If not, things to go to hell in a handbasket quicker than you might ever imagine.

In the short term, I think we could yet see a doubling or tripling of market share by Apple. "Short term" here is 2-3 years - I try not to think in quarters unless I'm forced to.

The iPhone and iPad are going to have a continued halo effect, and not just on personal use. No, it will extend into the business and IT sectors as well. There's some evidence of IT allowing a "bring your own" mentality to the desktop, if that continues into a significant trend then Katy bar the door.

 

[G4er?]

Big enough to finally build a mid range Mac.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

Big enough to finally build a mid range Mac.

Mid-range iMac or mid-range MacBook Pro. There's a number of different models to choose from. Even among Mac Pros.

Enjoy.

 

[G4er?]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)



Mid-range iMac or mid-range MacBook Pro. There's a number of different models to choose from. Even among Mac Pros.

Enjoy.

Unless you do not want an all in one where Apple chooses to only offer a glossy screen and tie the fastest processor with the largest screen. And I do not need a laptop.

 

[*LTD*]

Unless you do not want an all in one where Apple chooses to only offer a glossy screen and tie the fastest processor with the largest screen. And I do not need a laptop.

It is not incumbent upon Apple to address the needs of a fraction-of-a-fraction of the market.

There is barely any demand for what you want, and the market for what you ask is shrinking. I'd wager Apple isn't interested in losing money on the old desktop paradigm when the market is moving in a different direction (in many cases because Apple moved it in that direction.)

There's a reason Apple doesn't offer what you want after all this time.

 

[sysiphus]

Big enough that they concentrate worth a damn on the Mac again.

I think it'd take just the reverse--a big dip in sales of iOS stuff to make Apple focus on Macs again. So long as the easy money's rolling in on mobile devices, they have no need to make a superior Mac. So long as iOS stuff sells, they can get away with letting the Mac fall to little more than a shiny desktop accessory.

From a security standpoint, it's quite healthy to remain the minority in market share--a smaller target garners less interest.

 

[G4er?]

It is not incumbent upon Apple to address the needs of a fraction-of-a-fraction of the market.

There is barely any demand for what you want, and the market for what you ask is shrinking. I'd wager Apple isn't interested in losing money on the old desktop paradigm when the market is moving in a different direction (in many cases because Apple moved it in that direction.)

There's a reason Apple doesn't offer what you want after all this time.

More people have been asking for much longer for a mid range Mac than the number of people who said that Apple should make a phone or Apple should make a tablet. Yet Apple did both and have sold many.

What should be of interest to Apple is the growing number of Mac fans that are building hackintoshes because Apple isn't building the machine they want. Personally I don't want to go hackintosh. I'd much rather buy from Apple.

 

[camelsnot]

bigger market share to could help keep their prices down in the long run and eventually lead to apple being even more competitive with other platforms and thus start gaining eve more market share. It's a win win for everybody.

they will never drop prices. All they will do is produce 1 offs of their ipad, like they did with their ipods, to cater to different buyers. $teve Job$ said he didn't like the smaller form tablets, but he'll cave in and pretend it was his idea to begin with. His ego is about the same size as his mouth... both overflowing with praise for himself.

I'd imagine over the next 2 years a couple % may increase but once those bastardized ipads and more android tablets come out, Mac sales will start to decline. After all, he was the one that forecast the "post PC era", which also includes his OSX flavored PCs. Yes, ipad/android tablet sales will cut into Mac sales, eventually leading lesser options for those who still want some sort of "old fashioned" Mac (PC w/OSX).

Just like more and more people are ditching landlines for cell service in their homes, people will also start ditching traditional desktops to use their phones, tablets and TVs to get on the web. After all, Steve forecast it, even though he forecast it as it's already happening. What a boob.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

It is not incumbent upon Apple to address the needs of a fraction-of-a-fraction of the market.

There is barely any demand for what you want, and the market for what you ask is shrinking. I'd wager Apple isn't interested in losing money on the old desktop paradigm when the market is moving in a different direction (in many cases because Apple moved it in that direction.)

There's a reason Apple doesn't offer what you want after all this time.

More people have been asking for much longer for a mid range Mac than the number of people who said that Apple should make a phone or Apple should make a tablet. Yet Apple did both and have sold many.

What should be of interest to Apple is the growing number of Mac fans that are building hackintoshes because Apple isn't building the machine they want. Personally I don't want to go hackintosh. I'd much rather buy from Apple.

The Hackintosh crowd is negligible. Not enough numbers to interest Apple. We've been through this before. If you think the hackintosh community is large enough to concern Apple you're absolutely, positively, delusional. Apple is selling record numbers of Macs each quarter. They have little reason to change the current lineup if it's making them piles of money.

The only people I've seen belly-ache about no midrange desktop Macs are the geek contingent on Apple fansites. Not enough of you to matter.

 

[sysiphus]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)



The Hackintosh crowd is negligible. Not enough numbers to interest Apple. We've been through this before. If you think the hackintosh community is large enough to concern Apple you're absolutely, positively, delusional. Apple is selling record numbers of Macs each quarter. They have little reason to change the current lineup if it's making them piles of money.

The only people I've seen belly-ache about no midrange desktop Macs are the geek contingent on Apple fansites. Not enough of you to matter.

You know, despite our disagreement on most things Apple (I'm far happier on my Thinkpad running Linux than I was on my MBP with Leopard), you're spot-on here. Most people just don't care about having a midpriced expandable minitower. The last time Apple bothered with that was the low-end single G5 in 2004--which flopped. Heck, I almost bought one, but saved up for the full-on dualie instead. Most average consumers just want it to work, and really don't care much past that.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)



The Hackintosh crowd is negligible. Not enough numbers to interest Apple. We've been through this before. If you think the hackintosh community is large enough to concern Apple you're absolutely, positively, delusional. Apple is selling record numbers of Macs each quarter. They have little reason to change the current lineup if it's making them piles of money.

The only people I've seen belly-ache about no midrange desktop Macs are the geek contingent on Apple fansites. Not enough of you to matter.

You know, despite our disagreement on most things Apple (I'm far happier on my Thinkpad running Linux than I was on my MBP with Leopard), you're spot-on here. Most people just don't care about having a midpriced expandable minitower. The last time Apple bothered with that was the low-end single G5 in 2004--which flopped. Heck, I almost bought one, but saved up for the full-on dualie instead. Most average consumers just want it to work, and really don't care much past that.

Well yes, the market at large is moving away from the classic desktop paradigm. All the money is to be made in covenient all-in-ones and mobile computing, especially the expanding non-laptop mobile computing space, the trail being blazed in this area by the iPad.

If there is a market for these mid-range Frankenmacs, we would have seen them already. Asking for them over and over again on these boards is a bit insane at this point. It's simple economics. I'm pretty sure Apple's figured out what's going to make them money and what isn't. They've demonstrated they kinda understand their business, LOL. Market cap alone is a good indicator of their ability to turn a buck. They've decided (for obvious reasons) that this midrange Mac is probably not a good idea. And they're probably right. Anyone who has achieved what they have in only the span of a few years probably knows their business pretty well.

 

[benzslrpee]

1. Apple's market share will always be in the minority. the company takes great pains to price their products higher than market value to remain that way.

gaining market share requires lower prices (reference Android phones) which translates to lower margins and thus the increased reliance on operation and supply chain efficiency.

not saying that they don't do operations well but Dell, HP, Acer, Samsung and the rest of Asia have at least a decade more experience in squeezing every last dollar from operational efficiency. Apple would get hammered the instant it enters in that market. the opposite holds true. the minute the other guys tries to enter in a higher price market, their existing customers hammers them back down. Dell Adamo and HP Envy are prime examples of this.

strategic groups are vicious.

2. i think 17.8923% is the perfect market share... why is this even a question?

3. market cap is a pointless metric to use for profitability analysis without tying it other financial ratios...