Re: Computer Market Share

["Arlen P. Walker" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

Just to correct some of Bob's figures (please note I wasn't the author of the
figures he attempted to correct -- that's the problem with corrections, they
always spawn more):

      Apple has 21% of the multimedia market. (Dataquest)
      Packard Bell is #1 in the US in MM.

Top 5 in the MM market (1994):
1. Apple        2.3 Million   22.9%
2. Packard Bell 2.0 Million   19.2%
3. Compaq       1.2 Million   11.9%
4. IBM          0.8 Million    8.0%
5. Gateway      0.6 Million    5.8%

Sales rounded to nearest .1 Million, figures from Dataquest, Inc.

      Any service bureau that does not run IBM files will be out of
      business soon. Every SB I know can handle either type.

Of the SB's I deal with, about half don't have a PC in the place. That, however,
doesn't stop them from accepting PC files and converting them for use on their
Macs, SGI's or whatever. It does make it impossible for us to give them certain
data formats, but so far, that hasn't been a problem.

A caveat for all market share numbers: Every company draws a border around the
computer market differently. I have seen reports from different research firms
covering the same companies and same time period which differed by 50% or more
in some of their numbers. An example is the market share numbers Bob quoted. I
can cover the same territory, yet show a concluding number of 15.6% for Apple
and a trend up. Some count mail-order, some don't. Some only count what they
consider to be "business outlets." Another variable is the sales area.  Both Bob
and I cite the same company as source but have different numbers. (The reason in
this case, I think, is that Bob probably used US-only numbers for both his
statements -- he said he did in the second one, anyway -- and I used worldwide,
which I think is more valid since all the companies named, except perhaps
Gateway, have a worldwide presence. Heck, Packard-Bell isn't even an American
company, except in name.) And according to another market research company's
numbers (based on personal computer sales, not just "multimedia" personal
computers -- I'm afraid I don't remember the company, but I think it was
InfoSource) Packard Bell and Compaq exchange places on the chart, with Apple
still #1, but only by a whisker.

I agree with Bob that many Devout Mac fans have a tendency to overinflate the
Mac's presence in particular markets. There's a natural tendency to do that, to
counter the way PC bigots exaggerate in the other direction. The bottom line is
that neither platform has locked the other out of any given arena. I look
forward to many long years of competition. After all, the worst thing that could
happen to Microsoft would be the demise of Apple. They wouldn't have any place
left to steal good ideas from. (Can anyone name a single thing MS invented?)
They'd finally have to do some inventing on their own. ;{>}

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department, DNRC

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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Microsoft is not the answer.  Microsoft is the question.  NO is the answer.
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