A majority aren't going to switch to Mac as long as the base price is double a regular dell computer. Even if it is worth it. The fact is if you want huge OSX %, you need to license out the software. If you want more hardware sale, you need to NOT license out the software. Cause no one would put up with the expense, opacity, and long update times with Apple if it wasnt for OS X.
The first sentance is correct: "...majority aren't going to switch to Mac as long as the base price is double a regular dell computer." It is absolutly correct the while people claim to want all kinds of security and features and graphics and so on. When it come to actually deciding what to buy the go for price over everything else.
But the following is not correct: "if you want huge OSX %, you need to license out the software". This does not logically follow. If Apple really wants market share they could offers a $250 Mac. No need to license the software.
The question is would Apple make more or less money if they had this huge marget share. My guess is less. There would not be much margin on a $250 mac and even if the thing solds in the milions a month they wouldn't make any money. In the long run Apple will win because the trend is for hardware to be cheaper. Soon (well maybe in 6 or 10 years) even the high end hardware will be so cheap no one will care about paying a 50% premium for Apple. Like Starbucks Coffee, no one cares they pay a 50% premium because it amounts to like 25 cents.
In short the "Apple Premium" will fall along with the total price of hardware. When the premium falls to the pocket change level Apple's market share will raise.
Well, they do have that new upgrade-thing where you can purchase one of the crippled versions of Vista and upgrade it over the internet later. I wouldn't be 100% surprised it someone exploited a bug in that system.
