Macworld UK – Oz Mac sales double – IDC
Apparently sales of Apple computers are really taking off in Australia.
Macworld UK quotes IT analyst Michael Sager “saying”:http://www.idc.com.au/press/detail.asp?releaseid=144 “Apple seems to be finally benefiting from the iPod halo effect.”
I get really tired of people talking about how the popularity of the iPod is going to make people buy Apple computers. Especially since iTunes is on Windows now (where, as on Mac, it’s the best music player there is), iPod owners can get on just fine without Apple computers. And, incidentally, Mac owners can get on without iPods. I have an 80GB hard drive in my Powerbook, holding, among other things, my entire 3728-song music collection, which I play through speakers connected to my “Airport Express”:http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ wireless base-station. iPods and Macs don’t _need_ to be paired up.
Despite this, Apple are selling loads more computers lately. Why could it be? Here are some of the things I think might be contributing:
* Windows XP is ridiculously antiquated, much the way the old Apple OS 9 was. On top of that, it suffers drawing glitches, constant and often unexplained slowdowns (usually from too many applications having installed useless memory-resident utilities), myriad viruses, and spyware. Every useful feature is buried under a mountain of wizards, menus, and dialog boxes. It is also just plain broken. Every time I plug in my firewire drives under Windows, the system reboots. Genius.
* After years of having an operating system that geeks laughed at, Apple now has OS X, the best operating system there is. Both geeks and people who don’t know what RAM is manage to love it simultaneously. That’s a fine achievement on the developers’ part.
* Their lead industrial designer, “Jonathan Ive”:http://www.designmuseum.org/design/index.php?id=63, is a god. My white iBook G3 and its successor, an Alumnium Powerbook, are the only computers I’ve ever owned that I’d describe as “beautiful,” and the build quality is superb.
These are the reasons why I tell everyone I know who uses a PC that they should be using a Mac instead. Notice none of them had anything to do with an iPod.
Are you using a Mac, reader? If not, do yourself a favour. Go get one. For the budget-conscious, I recommend a “Mac Mini”:http://www.apple.com.au/macmini/, or an “iBook G4”:http://www.apple.com.au/ibook/.
It’s the Mac that radiates a halo, not the iPod.
Incidentally, about half an hour ago, Apple unveiled its newest revisions of “the iPod line”:http://www.apple.com/ipod/. Check them out, if you must.
