10/24/2007, 7:55pm, EDT
Wednesday, October 24th
ZDNet: Halo effect is "nonsense"
Calling the "halo effect" -- a term applied to the peripheral effects of the success of the iPod, iPhone, etc. -- hyperbole, ZDNet says there are a number of other reasons for Apple's rapidly growing Mac market share. These include Intel Macs, which make virtualization software for running Windows a possibility -- a strong draw for switchers; Support, for which Apple has been ranked far ahead of other PC manufacturers in various surveys; Microsoft's mistakes with Vista (underestimating the pull of the installed base of Windows XP); the fact that Mac users support the platform and evangelize it to others, and more. "The turnaround in consumer attitudes towards the Mac didn’t happen with the release of the iPod. Rather, it is the culmination of a brand rebuilding strategy that began 10 years ago."
Analysts and some other pundits disagree, opining that the increase in Mac sales is indeed due to the much-talked-about halo effect. "It is primarily [the] 'halo effect' driving the jump in Mac sales," says Van Baker, research vice president of Gartner Consulting. "Consumers come in [to the Apple stores] to buy an iPod and stop to check out the MacBook Pros while they are there."
Earlier this week, Apple announced that it earned revenue of $6.22 billion with the help of more than 2.16 million Mac sales -- which broke the company's record for the most Mac sales in a September quarter by 400,000 units. Overall, Apple generated more than $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income during the fiscal year 2007. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer cited "record results" in his introductory comments, adding that this was the "highest September quarter revenue and earnings in Apple's history."
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Apple users have been evangelizing for many years and mostly, PC users either found us annoying or just ignored us. It was the success of the iPod which opened up people's minds to considering the big switch.
I wouldn't attribute it solely to the iPod of course... there's also Microsoft's huge missteps with Vista... there's Apple Stores (but what got a lot of PC people in there in the first place? The iPod!)... the switch to the Intel CPU...
Finally, I'm really not sure how many people switched to Mac because of the ability to run Windows apps... I mean, that SHOULD be a huge reason but as a practical matter, how many former PC users are running Parallels/Boot Camp?
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
I think it just comes down to consumer education. Heck, in the past five years my mom has even come a long way. People are learning of the alternative out there - or the fact that there is even one! Some people still think Macs run windows natively!
But people are learning and the iPod has kept the Apple name fresh in peoples minds. When people keep hearing good things again and again about a company they eventually inquire.
"it doesn't take more than 7 days to break the update by hackers. the reason why Apple has not had many issues with viruses/etc in the past is because it wasn't a popular enough platform to generate any kind of buzz. but now that it's emerging and getting bigger, ppl will see how weak Apple's codes are when compared to Microsoft's."
how many years have we been hearing THAT one? And now that Apple has doubled (or more) its market share... still no outbreak of Macs attacked by viruses.
Of course, it's probably just a result of collusion within The Vast Left-Wing Hacker Conspiracy, agreeing not to write any viruses for the Mac platform...
I clearly remember salesmen at CompUSA steering customers away from the Mac section, the sales staff knew nothing about Macs.
Of course, these are "analysts" speaking - why would they be expected to know that?
Doofuses.
The need for hardware upgrades for Vista made comparison shopping a no brainer... Ooops!
The halo effect is alive and well (look at the increased NPD numbers over 360's sold last month, coincidentally the same month as.. Halo 3).
http://macnewbtube.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/increase-in-mac-sales-ipod-mac-vs-pc-ad-campaign/
This is not a troll. I saw this MacNN article through RSS, and had to get my post out there, considering the relevance and the hope that ZD might take a peek and feel foolish.