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Mac OS X slips in OS market share for fourth straight month
Earlier today, Lee Mathews told you how Windows 7 had passed Vista in OS market share, and how Windows XP still seems to have a little gas left in its tank. But what of Mac OS X? Things are looking okay, but not great, for Apple's desktop operating system, which lost ground for the 4th straight month, according to the July report from Net Applications (as reported by ComputerWorld).Apple's 2/10ths of a percentage point drop was its largest drop in over a year and a half. OS X peaked at 5.3% in October, but then Microsoft introduced Windows 7, and was all downhill from there. Apple's back down to 5%. Win7's growth seems to be slowing, but will Apple be able to get those points back? Is Mac software suffering now that iPhones and iPads make up over half of Apple's business? Certainly, Apple's not hurting at all right now, thanks to record Mac sales in the second quarter of this year, but should they be worried that WIndows 7 PCs are selling even faster?
Comments
26
Subscribe to commentsNeilAug 2nd 2010 5:03PM
I think Apple is charging maybe $200 too much for what they're selling. People expect paying premiums when buying Apple computers, but selling a Core 2 Duo laptop for the price of a Core i7 machine is just greedy.
JoshAug 2nd 2010 5:29PM
Until we see a report saying that that drop was a defect to Windows 7 and not just an increase in computer purchases for whatever reason, I doubt Apple will agree with you.
RobAug 2nd 2010 5:32PM
I own a Core i5 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard and have to say that I could never use Windows for anything other than college work which requires Access or something exclusive to Windows, or gaming. But with more games coming to Steam for Mac I am gradually ditching Windows for good.
Also, I prefer a smaller OS X community simply for the exclusivity of having a Mac running Mac OS X. It's like owning a 100k super car or a grand mansion, but obviously on a smaller scale. Say what you like about what that says about me, but it is a personal preference.
As long as Jobs and co. don't go and scrap the whole Mac division for all their mobile devices i'm happy
DrakkenfyreAug 2nd 2010 8:34PM
So when you have a problem, or a company drops support, you are happy about being with fewer resources for help.
kojo87Aug 2nd 2010 10:11PM
since you gave me permission, i think you are a pretentious ass. you basically said you bought a Mac so you could feel like an elitist.
TianAug 3rd 2010 12:21AM
Honestly, my friends go all elitist on me every time they get a new Windows computer.
ChristianAug 3rd 2010 1:23AM
"Also, I prefer a smaller OS X community simply for the exclusivity of having a Mac running Mac OS X. It's like owning a 100k super car or a grand mansion, but obviously on a smaller scale. Say what you like about what that says about me, but it is a personal preference. "
That statement right there tell us everything we will ever need to know about you.
/fail
BlakeAug 6th 2010 10:34PM
@ Drakkenfyre
I don't believe that that is what Rob is at all saying. Comments about his personality aside, even though OS X has a smaller community than Windows, Apple has the best customer support of any other PC or software manufacturer in the running! The community is also much more active, in my opinion. It's similar to the case with Linux's user-base and community: Because there are fewer commercial resources available, and the fact that people active in (and this is mostly true for any Unix OS community) these communities are typically more computer/software-literate, the user base is much more productive and attentive. Being a Linux user, whenever I encounter a problem (that I can fix for whatever reason) the community responds. Though, the case with Linux is somewhat different than that with OS X because the software is open source; people fix bugs and respond to user error encounters because they want to improve the software as a whole. However, in retrospect, even without commercial support from companies like Apple help is still amply available.
Dragos SalageanuAug 19th 2010 11:01AM
Rob, I am a long-time Mac user, but I simply agree with kojo87: you are a pretentious ass. Buying a Mac for showing off is a stupid answer.
Macs a fun to use and to own, keeping an enormous value over time (also due to pretentious asses, we gotta give'em that), but Apple has neglected the Mac development an itsy bit, maybe overstating the superiority of Snow Leopard. Looks like Windows 7 is way better than anybody would have ever expected from the worlds largest producer of software and fail. Good job, I have waited for such a product from Microsoft between 1995 and 2004, then I gave up. I'm glad they didn't.
I am currently using only OS X (on various machines) and am completely ruling out Windows, largely due to the same reason why corporations are ruling out potentially superior solutions: we have build so much on the platform that a change would be deeply impractical. That is not mentioning the obvious problems, like the abundance of malware and viruses, which are simply not there on ANY other platform (choose your pick from all Unix flavors, Linux or any other relevant OS on the planet, if there are any other left).
OS-wise, we are definitely looking past the Apple ecosystem, and considering Ubuntu, OpenSolaris (RIP 2010, thanks to Oracle, the worlds second largest producer of software and fail) and BSD for some specific appliances (servers, low-cost machines or storage infrastructure), both OS X and Windows have pretty obsolete filesystems and document managers compared to what a Solaris / BSD machine can do with ZFS.
5hRreDDyAug 2nd 2010 5:35PM
Personally, I'm always a bit sceptical about these sort of figures due to the (sometimes) wishy-washy methodology since there are many reasons why this could be the case.
One consideration could might be the fact that Windows 7 tablet PCs are making up a small percentage which aren't being measured up against the iPad which uses an OS X-derived operating system in iOS.
At any rate, Apple have no reason to be worried. Like you say, Mac hardware is still selling in high volumes and we won't be very surprised when in a month or two (or after the next MacBook Pro refresh), the percentage starts creeping back up again.
superrrguyAug 2nd 2010 5:59PM
I have a love/hate relationship with my PC but feel like my Mac is laughing at me whenever I use it for paying so much for it. Macs are great but I don't think they're worth the premium.
Overall, I like Win 7 better for window management and keyboard shortcuts. I like the Mac better because I don't have annoying slow downs.
I don't belong to either camp. I'm typing this on an underused iPad. Mostly underused because of WiFi problems and apps crashing all the time.
rells009Aug 2nd 2010 6:15PM
I think that iOS and other mobile operating systems are probably eating into Apple's piece of the pie.
NazmulAug 2nd 2010 6:43PM
Apple has got into cannibalising into its own market
ragtagAug 2nd 2010 6:50PM
I can't imagine these numbers that accurate. A 0.3% drop might simply be due to some calculation errors. How are they getting these numbers in the first place? Is it just from website statistics, which in turn would mean they're only including machines that access website, and not servers. Servers are mostly Linux and Windows, and not OSX.
Playing with their graphs over at their site is a bit fun though. For one, it shows that Other has more users than Linux. But what is Other? Amiga, mobile OS's, Unix, Solaris, failed to detect OS or what?
A more interesting statistic is that in South America, Linux has more users than OSX. :)
JordeAug 2nd 2010 7:33PM
Well yeah. OSX is only for white people.
Jesse ThoresenAug 2nd 2010 7:48PM
Introduce blu-ray and I'll upgrade my mac book pro.
CarneyAug 2nd 2010 10:33PM
Hear hear. Apple's foot-dragging on Blu-ray is getting obnoxious. They are obviously trying to strangle Blu-ray in its crib to push their iTunes / AppleTV / iOS ecosystem. They should either resign from the Blu-ray Disk Association or get behind the format.
Brian SchulzAug 3rd 2010 1:25AM
I spent 10 years using Windows exclusively. 5 years ago I switched to a Mac. I can't stand the thought of giving up OSX I'm not truly anti-Windows as it works well for a lot of people doing basic crap. I can't stand Windows anymore but thats only because I haven't had a chance to play with Win 7 yet.
I have read alot of good things about it. Annoying however is that the only thing anybody can ever say apart from the actual reviews I read is "Its cool how I can put two windows next to each other and they resize!" Wow. Is that really all that Win 7 does? No other features? SOLD I still have one WinXP machine running 3 programs I use. Other than that it is never on. My iMac G5 and my MacBook C2D are always running strong with no problems.
10 years on Windows was 10 years with problems and crashes and freezing and all sorts of plagues. I do hope to play with 7 and get my own feel but I can't see leaving Mac OSX which works great consistently and has amazing support. When you purchase Winblows and you have a problem you're out of luck for support. But they're more than happy to show you the new line of junk.
Take care and enjoy what you like. I chastise no one for liking what works for them. I even recommended my best friend purchase a Windows machine since the cheap crap machines out there running Microshaft's operating system will take care of him for once in a while checking his e-mail and reading a few interesting sites.
Oh yeah... in 5 years of my iMac G5 running strong that cost me $1800, my Dad is complaining about his 2nd Windows machine running like crap and the two machines in the same 5 years have cost him a total of $2700. Hmm.... you say Mac is too expensive? Match up quality and find Windows gets more expensive.
Sorry that I pissed off some people. Happy that I pissed off a few of them
kojo87Aug 3rd 2010 2:33AM
please don't pretend to be unbiased and then proceed to use terms like "Winblows" and "Microshaft" as it makes you come off as a complete jackass.
i installed Vista on launch day. i installed 7 on launch day. the only times i have ever had my computer crash was when i messed with my BIOS or installed bad graphics drivers. use Windows 7 for a day and you will see it is far more than just window management.
joshgibasAug 3rd 2010 8:52AM
You're not pissing anyone off, you're just showing everyone how much of an ignorant douche you are.