[thelist] Flash stats.
Ben Dyer
ben_dyer at imaginuity.com
Fri May 11 08:57:32 CDT 2001
At 05:52 PM 5/10/2001, you wrote:
>At 05:39 PM 5/10/01 -0500, Ben wrote:
>
>>>As far 4.2% being low, doesn't that pretty much jive with the market
>>>penetration rate?
>>
>>Only if you base market penetration on new computer sales (like the
>>industry does - which is wrong). If you count installed base, Macintosh
>>penetration is much higher (because people generally use Macs longer than
>>they use PCs, although this is changing). I have no numbers but it's
>>closer to 10% than 5%.
>
>This isn't correct either. If over the course of 5 years you use 1 Mac
>and I use 2 PC's (serially, not in parallel) then it doesn't matter that
>you are using your machine longer, the penetration would be the same: 1
>Mac, 1 PC. Penetration rates would have to be figured (roughly) by
>calculating the percentage of 1st time computer buyers for each platform
>and the percentage of people buying computers who are switching
>platforms. These are the only people who will change the penetration
>rates. That being said, one the big to-do's with the Imac was that Apple
>for the first time in years had a machine that attracted first time
>computer users and attracted some Wintel converts. Now given the overall
>number of people who own computers, those gains represent a fairly small
>percentage. But at least it was something.
Let's look at it this way. I'll use your example. At Year 1, say you
bought a Dell. Well, then Dell market share was 50% and Apple market share
was 50%. But at Year (let's say) 3 you bought another Dell. Then Dell
market share is 100% (or, even if you are factoring in prior years - which
some don't, technically it's 66%).
It seems to me that most numbers are based on total sold rather than total
used (which is basically impossible to determine).
Found this article from a month ago:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0104/09.marketshare.shtml
Yeah, it's a bit Mac-biased, but it raises some interesting points.
--Ben
<!-----------------------
Ben Dyer
Senior Internet Developer
Imaginuity Interactive
http://www.imaginuity.com
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