Text 16568, 145 rader
Skriven 2007-03-21 20:07:00 av mike (1:379/45)
  Kommentar till text 16555 av Rich Gauszka (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Apple of Our Eye: Macs Save Money
=============================================
From: mike <mike@barkto.com>



I was kind of surprised about the entire tone of that article.

 /m



On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:26:39 -0400, "Rich Gauszka"
<gauszka@dontspamhotmail.com> wrote:

>Wired's been drinking far too much of the Apple happy juice with this
>statement
>
>'There's been a shift here. In a few weeks, the Apple TV went from "who
>cares?" to must-have.'
>
>
>"mike" <mike@barkto.com> wrote in message
>news:7ca303l6l408mvsmcjrsents1h6u4h5ju0@4ax.com...
>>
>> http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,73005-0.html
>>
>>
>> ===
>> They're saying odd stuff, like Macs are good for business; Macs can save
>> money; and that Apple's stock -- at $90 a share -- is a bargain.
>>
>> In fact, there seems to be a widespread re-evaluation of Apple going on,
>> a cultural shift that's changing the way people think about the company.
>> It's been building for a while but it has reached a tipping point in the
>> last couple of months. Here's what people are saying now.
>>
>>
>> - Macs will save you money
>>
>> Macs have always been derided as more expensive than PCs, but now Wilkes
>> University in Pennsylvania is dumping its Windows machines for Macs --
>> to save money! A few years ago, universities like Dartmouth College, one
>> of the biggest Mac-centric colleges, couldn't dump their Macs fast
>> enough.
>>
>> - Macs are good for business
>>
>> Macs in the workplace used to be just for the artsy types in the design
>> department. But now they're appropriate for regular desk jockeys of
>> every stripe. In Computerworld, consultant Seth Weintraub recommends
>> Macs for the enterprise because they're easy to learn, easy to
>> administer and not as prone to viruses and other nasties. Weintraub says
>> IT managers who bought Macs for home use are increasingly looking to
>> deploy them at work.
>>
>> - Less is more
>>
>> At one time, loading on more features was the mantra. When the iPod came
>> out, critics said it didn't match rival devices, which boasted FM radios
>> and bigger hard drives. But users wanted fewer features, and better ease
>> of use. "That's why the iPod succeeded where its predecessor products
>> bombed," writes Chris Taylor, Business 2.0's senior editor, in a recent
>> piece titled "The Trouble With Gee-Whiz Gadgets."
>>
>> - Closed is good
>>
>> Apple's traditional closed system -- proprietary hardware, software and
>> online services -- is now a selling point. A couple of years ago, many
>> confidently predicted Apple would fail if it didn't open up the
>> iPod/iTunes system to rivals, who would "hybridize" the platform with
>> interoperable hardware and software from multiple companies. "It's
>> absolutely clear now why five years from now, Apple will have 3
>> (percent) to 5 percent of the player market,'' Rob Glaser, CEO of Apple
>> rival RealNetworks, told The New York Times in 2003. "The history of the
>> world is that hybridization yields better results."
>>
>> But consumers seem to want the opposite -- products and services from
>> one company that are guaranteed to work well together. Look at
>> Microsoft's attempt to copy the iPod's top-to-bottom integration with
>> the Zune. And customers are embracing that "closed" system. "I just
>> switched from a Dell to an Apple laptop and love the Mac lifestyle,"
>> student Priya Sanghvi told USA Today.
>>
>> - Apple is the darling of Wall Street
>>
>> Wall Street analysts, traditionally skeptical of Apple, are suddenly
>> giddily bullish, releasing extremely positive forecasts on future
>> performance. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster says the Apple TV will give
>> the company a big lead over Microsoft in the digital living room.
>> (Target price: $124.) UBS Investment research analyst Benjamin Reitzes
>> believes the iPhone is the beginning of a "mega platform" of
>> touch-screen devices that will give Apple "open-ended growth." (Target
>> price: $124.)
>>
>> Jon Markman, a columnist for Microsoft Money, thinks Apple's shares will
>> double by 2010. "If you have ever kicked yourself for not buying Apple
>> four years ago when you bought your first iPod, you should go for it now
>> during this market weakness," he writes. And The Street's Scott Moritz
>> says that thanks to the iPhone, "Palm seems doomed." According to Zacks
>> Investment Research, 14 of the 17 analysts following Apple rate the
>> stock a "buy" or better. (There are three "holds" and no "sell"
>> ratings.)
>>
>> - Macs can run more applications
>>
>> I can't remember the last time I heard anyone say there's no software
>> for the Mac, or that Macs are too expensive. People still acknowledge
>> that Apple's products aren't the cheapest, but they seem happy to pay
>> for better-designed, better-made products. As for software, the old
>> argument against Macs is moot. New Intel Macs can run Windows software
>> as well as any PC. I more often hear the opposite -- people complaining
>> that software like Apple's iLife suite isn't available on Windows.
>>
>> The change in perception seems to have been tipped by the iPhone. A lot
>> of people thought Apple got lucky with the iPod: It was a one-hit
>> wonder, a fluke not likely to be repeated. But the iPhone is already
>> starting to look like another industry-changing smash hit, and it's
>> shining a different light on the company.
>>
>>
>>
>> The clearest example is the Apple TV, which is due to be released this
>> week. Late last year, there wasn't much buzz about the Apple TV. Most
>> people just shrugged. There didn't seem to be a need for a wireless box
>> to stream content from your computer to your TV.
>>
>> But lately, the buzz has been growing. I've seen a lot of blog posts and
>> news reports predicting the Apple TV will fly off store shelves. Some
>> analysts are even saying the Apple TV is a more important product than
>> the iPhone.
>>
>> There's been a shift here. In a few weeks, the Apple TV went from "who
>> cares?" to must-have. The product didn't change, but what people were
>> saying about it did. I think it's because Apple is very clearly looking
>> like a serial innovator: a company that can successfully trot out one
>> big product after another. This has been generally true since the iMac
>> in 1998, but now the wider public is catching on.
>>
>> What's changed is not Apple, but people's perceptions of the company.
>> ===
>>
>>  /m
>

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