Consumer electronics: Apple PC a grudging move?

Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 07 Apr 2006 16:46

Apple shares surged nearly 10 percent, a day after Apple announced it would distribute its “Boot Camp” software to run the Microsoft Windows operating system. “Boot Camp” is free, and operates on new Mac models. Users may toggle between Apple software or Windows.

Ten percent is a surge, but double-digit surges settle quickly. At present, Apple’s market share is less than three percent. Microsoft shares registered no change.

Apple stands to gain market share from new computer buyers, and from PC users who envy Apple equipment. Apple’s loudest proponents include young people, presumably first-time buyers, who are used to the name from iPod purchases and embrace Apple’s carefully cultivated rebel image. Apple in fact has a 14.8 percent share fo the elementary and secondary education market, and 5.1 percent of the home market, according to tallies by market researchers IDC.

Those figures aside, adoption in the workplace is minimal enough to drag Apple’s total market share to under three percent. Graphic designers, who require high memory and ultrafast processing, are devotees, making engineers running CAD programs a likely market segment. But altogether, a small one.

The move may be strategic for Apple, but one they seem to have made grudgingly. Apple made its announcement in a hastily-called press release and conference.

Between its migration to Intel processors, and enabling Microsoft windows, Apple is beginning to look like the rebel driving his parents’ Cadillac to a protest march.

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