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Apple retail stores critical to PC user migration

updated 11:45 am EST, Thu January 20, 2005

Retail helps migration


Apple's to the company's success in switching PC users, according to analyst firm Needham & Co. Apple's stores can leverage the people traffic, the iPod, and the new (affordable) Mac mini to help attract "Windows users to the Mac platform and growing the Mac's market share, according to a research note obtained by Macworld UK: "Since launch in May 2001 Apple Stores now deliver revenues of $2.2 billion per year - 16 per cent of Apple's worldwide sales, and 40 per cent of Apple's US retail sales. However, despite the fact that 13 per cent of Windows users will buy an iPod when they visit a store, just 1 per cent of visitors bought a Mac." Needham expects that "Apple will come close to selling a Mac to one in ten iPod-owning Windows users, simply by using those stores to show Mac minis and iLife to them."


by MacNN Staff

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  1. z10n

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    Joined: Oct 2003

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    01/20, 12:40pm | report spam | Reply |

    Hmmm

    Apple should seriously re-consider their retail store strategy if only 1% of people coming into apple stores are buying macs. That's dreadful.

    It sounds like the 40% are mac heads like me that simply enjoy the fact that they can go to an apple store and don't have to mail order every single mac product they buy. I mean, why would you buy anything in the store (other then an iPod) unless you already have a mac?

    Here's hoping with the mini that apple is finally getting a clue: yes, they NEED marketshare. Marketshare drives developers which drive repeat sales.

  1. ValkRaider

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    01/20, 12:57pm | report spam | Reply |

    Wrong places.

    Except the fact that there are about 100 Apple stores in the bay area (where I am sure there was no lack of access to Apple products) and not ONE SINGLE Apple store in New Mexico (where it is rediculusly impossible to find Apple products).

    I would think that opening ONE small to medium sized store in Albuquerque would get more *new* mac users than yet another one in California...

    Albuquerque metro area has about the same population as the Albany, NY or Newark/Wilmington Delaware metro areas and more than the Des Moines, Iowa metro area. (Albany, Newark, and Des Moines have an Apple stores).

    Albuquerque has nearby Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Rio Rancho - all with great Mac potential (except Rio Rancho's Intel presence of course). UNM is one of the largest colleges in the USA, and there is Sandia National Labs and Kirtland AFB which are scientific strongholds...

    Albuquerque needs an Apple Store.



  1. LordJohnWhorfin

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    01/20, 01:16pm | report spam | Reply |

    Or not...

    Or they could be critical in preventing people from switching. A friend of mine was tired of viruses and crashes on his windows PC and I had almost talked him into replacing it with an iMac G5, but then he had a problem with his daughter's iPod: the (PC) updater caused it to crash and become unusable.
    They live two hours away from London and going to the new Apple Store is a major inconvenience, but they called, tried to make an appointment, and made the trip. They were confronted with typical Apple Store employee arrogance (the "genius" takes the cake).
    Essentially, the "genius" is in very high demand, knows it and is so full of himself he talks down to everybody.

    We're talking about someone who was going to switch (I know he had plans of buying an iMac G5 that day) but got cold feet after dealing with the arrogance of the "genius".

    Remember back when Jobs was sending mystery shoppers to CompUSA stores? It's about time he does that for his own. If my friend was put off, who knows how many other switchers were?

  1. SoGood

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    01/20, 01:26pm | report spam | Reply |

    Yet again...

    I agree, but aren't the Brits well known for that behaviour?

    But I have to also say that the Genius Bar is also part of Apple retail store's success. Been involved with assisting newbies on Macs, the fact that they can have somewhere to go in person is a huge benefit for potential and actual switchers. I have had a single dealing with two Genius' at the Palo Alto store. They were just great in terms of attitude.

  1. lmhaffner

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    01/20, 01:29pm | report spam | Reply |

    Uh, statistics?

    The article conclusion is confusing. If you do the statistics, 1 in 10 of 13% is 1.3%. So, nearly 1 in 10 "Windows" iPod buyers (effectively) are buying Macs *already*. But, that is also assuming that every "Windows" user that is buying a Mac has already bought an iPod--and from the Apple store. The whole thing sounds much too simplified to talk about the "halo" effect, personally.

    The 1% may be sound, but there should also be a study about whether previous Windows owners are more likely to prefer *not* buying their machine through a retail store. If one is very used to buying from Dell or Gateway, one might prefer to order from the Apple *on-line* store instead.

    Anyway... not saying this is important one way or another, just that the statement from a financial person sounds very suspect given the little amount of data and analysis presented in that article. Maybe too much was left out.

  1. LordJohnWhorfin

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    01/20, 01:46pm | report spam | Reply |

    "genius" attitude

    I've had to deal with the "genius" at the Valley Fair mall in San Jose a few months ago. I went there with a friend who told me he was shocked by how the guy was talking down to people (as we were waiting our turn). He was fairly arrogant and unpleasant to me as well, of course.
    I think quite possibly the problem is they end up getting tunnel vision working at the store, and take customers for granted. Not everyone who steps into an Apple store has made up their mind to switch to the Mac.

  1. dashiel

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    01/20, 02:06pm | report spam | Reply |

    re: Hmmmm

    "yes, they NEED marketshare. Marketshare drives developers which drive repeat sales."

    they don't need any more market share than they already have. they might want more. here's an example: there are 14 million OS X users (and another 10 million OS 9 users). if a small time developer could release an app that sold for $10 to 1% of that market that's $140,000. not exactly something to sniff at. delicious monster are a good example of this, they spent 7 months developing delicious library and in the first month had sales of $250,000. that's a two man team with no marketing at all.

  1. nerd

    Senior User

    Joined: Jun 2002

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    01/20, 03:52pm | report spam | Reply |

    Albuquerque

    I second the Albuquerque one. I've been in CompUSA countless times and watched people looking at the Macs and there is only one Apple guy in the store. 5 Minutes later I see the same people with a CompUSA person looking at the PCs.

  1. LordJohnWhorfin

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    01/20, 04:24pm | report spam | Reply |

    Market share

    Market share is what makes it impossible for developers to ignore your platform. Of course, developers still make money selling well designed products for OSX (Delicious Library ROCKS, btw) but we're talking about companies making a business decision NOT to support the Mac because they get a better return investing their finite resources elsewhere.
    A larger market share is critical in making the Mac a mandatory release platform for software vendors. OSX was instrumental in lowering the transitional costs, by offering a plethora of development options (Cocoa, Carbon, Java, Qt, etc... and modern Unix underpinnings instead of creaky old OS9)

  1. testudo

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    01/20, 04:33pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: genius attitude

    Also keep in mind, as it is with most tech support people, that half the time (if not more), they're spending with non-tech users, people who are smart in their own right, have sense enough to use a computer, but doesn't spend their time tweakin' and learning how it all works (sort of like most people use cars, but few understand more than the basic concept of 'change the oil regularly', and certainly don't know what's going on under the hood). Its the questions from these people that just drive tech support nuts, because the problems are easy, but getting to the problem, and the solution, can be really painful (of course, its doubly worse when you're doing windows tech support, because you not only have to put up with the users, but an OS that doesn't exactly work in a consistent manner).

    Of course, I'm sure some of them are also like that idiot IT character from that SNL skit from a few years ago.

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