Survey: Mac OS hit record 7.3% share in December; iPhone up 33%

“With the continuing trend, if Apple launched MAC OS on the open market they would probably take 15-20% market share from Microsoft within months.”

I highly doubt Apple will make Mac OS open (officially) in the near future — i think they run the risk of hurting their own PC business, i.e. people who want to use Mac OS but don’t want an Apple PC will be lost Apple PC sale. Of course, the way things are now, I don’t expect Mac OS to gain significantly more market share unless Apple PC’s market share goes up. They are dependent on each other. (Anyway, if /my/ operating system and computer was owned by 1 in every 18 consumers, I wouldn’t be complaining about a lack of business!)

But that said, I agree that Mac OS and Apple’s PCs are pretty sweet — when I get out of RPI, I’ll be saving money for computer music equipment, including a shiny new mac with the best music synthesis software out for it.

I have used Apples for the past 5 years and I couldn’t be more satisfied. The reliability of the machines is a real selling point. I have only had to get my Powerbook G4 fixed once and that was due to a bad hard drive (which Apple replaced without any questions). But take my hp Desktop that my fiance purchased in Feb. of 2007. The thing has grabbed onto 3 bad viruses forcing us to reformat it three times in 12 MONTHS!!! My laptop is the best and most reliable computer I have ever used. I would never go back to a Windows based computer and my fiance has vowed never to again.

Bottom line…. If you want a computer that will perform and won’t let you down, get a Mac.

If you want something that will give you grief and trouble your entire computer life, stick with PCs. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reformating and losing all your data every 3 months.

I think Linux is much higher then what is showing really. Think of it. How many people buy a package then reformat it to linux? Packages only sell with windows really.

Personaly I won’t use windows other then gaming. Linux is my main OS. Linux for me does more then everything that windows does for me.

Interesting but pointless. I use OSX as my preferred platform. I also have windows 2000 and XP platoforms, and linux systems. I prefer OSX for most things as it is UNIX based and runs all things unix and has a great user interface. I use linux because I have alot of older computers that work great with linux and I don’t have to buy new hardware. I use window just because I have to because Microsoft has done some interesting things with exchange server and outlook as well as some web site require IE. That really sucks but what is one to do. The point od this is that you use what you need to get the job done. A tool is a tool. In the end we use them to make money otherwisw we would not use them at all.

Msft has always produced inferior products to Apple. Look at the top of the line Msft music player the Zune vs the top of the line Apple the ipod Touch. With millions to throw around and with the ipod to copy from all Msft came come up is a (so yesterday) Zune! Zune is a Msft money loser and even an willingness to ‘dump’ the Zune at below cost, ipod sales still trash them, on Amazon’s bestseller there are usually 6-7 ipods models before the Zune (even with heavy zune discounts).

Windows as always lagged OsX and now with Leopard the gap is even wider. Msft only gained market share years ago because PCs were LOWER in PRICE but with intel macs, the PC price advantage is gone - compare similarly configured machines now.

And with the ability to run Windows on Intel macs for those who absolutely have to why buy a Windows only PC? Mac sales are just going to take off. Schools and colleges for example are already just buying macs to run both Os.

Appl 12 month share gain is : 130% vs Msft 19.5% and Msft had a good year in 2007. 5 year results are even more striking in Appl’s favor.
Simply the last few years if you had invested in Appl you would have made a LOT more money and doubtlessly the next few years as well.

Macs are probably over 20% of consumer computers. The Windows figures always have millions point of purchase machines etc.

Do Apple & Microsoft have good products? Both Yes. Is either perfect? No. Will one obliviate the other? No. People buy Apple stock because there is nothing else exciting to buy right now.
Apple stock will fall when people get over the excitement factor (just look at Starbucks tanking right now). Keep riding while you can, but when it falls, it will be harsh.
FYI: My $4000 1996 PowerMac has been a doorstop since 2000. My $1500 1996 PC is slow but running Win XP, IE 7 and Win Media Player 11. Longevity is what keeps Windows alive; not beauty.

“Apple stock will be buried in 2008″

Dude, you couldn’t be any more wrong. The only thing that will bring the stock down in price in 2008 would be a stock split.

This is not surprising. I was expecting a steady decline in market share from microsoft. With the continuing trend, if Apple launched MAC OS on the open market they would probably take 15-20% market share from Microsoft within months. People were expecting more with Vista from the worlds largest software company after 6 years in production. Personally, I was very disappointed. So far, more people are looking at Apple as a viable if not superior alternative to a PC box.

I wouldn’t count Microsoft out, though. They managed to make a rather competitive MP3 player to compete with the ipod. That’s the same way Microsoft blew a hole in Sony with the X-box. Apple is gradually losing market share in this category as competition grows, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next year.

Right now, Apple is perfectly positioned to launch a torpedo in Windows Vista.

Josh, I’m sure you’ll never be back to read this, but Apple’s market share (at least, if Net Applications’ numbers aren’t majorly skewed) is at an all time high. iPod sales are up 17% year over year and the only reason anyone bought a Zune for Christmas is that the cheap model was essentially at fire sale prices. Everyone I’ve talked to who has ever used an iPhone says it is the single best piece of technology they have EVER experienced, even those who have used Windows their whole lives. Speaking of Windows, the vast majority of users are only upgrading to Vista when they are forced to by outside forces such as buying a new computer.

Taking all of this into consideration, I fail to see the justification for your claim that Apple’s stock will be “buried” in 2008.

In the interest of full disclosure, I use Macs, own two iPods, and also own Apple stock. I’ve been following the stock since July of 2000, and nothing in what I’m seeing right now tells me that I have anything to worry about as a shareholder.

I don’t see what all the hype is about. Apple is in serious trouble. Wake up people. Vista is beating its growth, all the phone companies are coming up with similar designs to iphone at much lower cost more competitive partnership with network providers, new Microsoft Zune is already making a loud nose….what Apple has going for it? The stocks will be buried in 08.

Statistics is such an awesome way of turning crap into gold and viceversa, isn’t it?

What does this say about Linux, btw. After so many years of war mongering against the Redmond Empire they haven’t even managed to top the number of Windows 98 users out there. I didn’t even know there were any more Windows 98 users out there other than people running pawnshops in Siberia.

And in just 6 months, the Apple iPhone has almost 20% of the Linux marketshare. I do love my iPhone, that’s for sure, and there is no doubt that I have switched my browsing habits to where I sit at my sofa or bed browing the internet from my iPhone when in the past I would do that from my Windows PC.

I wonder if the keeper of these statistics has correlated the MAC OS numbers versus the Mac Intel numbers and see any significant ‘upgrade’ trend. This would indicate the number of old MAC users moving to the new Intel-based platform and therefore understanging how much of the raise in the Mac Intle numbers comes at the expense of the so called MAC OS (PowerPC) cannibalization.

Statistics: The scientific method of turning a lie into a truth, or a truth into a lie.

It seems to me that the most successful platform of 2007 was the Playstation, with an amazing 50% increase in market share! WOW!

When I look at these numbers and realize that while Windows percentage points is somewhat declining, its numbers can only be increasing in the millions, as the number of units in the world is FAR outpacing the decline in market share.

So, with that in mind I have to conclude that by the time Apple gets a 10% marketshare, assuming it can, its stock price will capitalize the company at 2 x Microsoft’s market value. No hype at all, right?

The other part of the story that gets pushed aside, to the benefit of all the Microsoft detractors, is to see how Linux as a Desktop OS has and continues to fail at getting any real traction beyond the hard core “Microsoft = Evil Empire because I believe that Star Wars is a real story and Bill Gates is Darth Vader” crowd.

No, I am not a pro Microsoft guy either. Just a realist that cares to look at statistics for what it is … NUMBERS THAT MUST BE ANALYZED … you know, something that reporters and Wall Street analyst seldom do.

My daughter just laughed at me that I was surfing the net with my iPod-Touch, while my laptop was just 2 feet away. You might not believe this, I use iPod-Touch most often to browse the net these days. The user experience of using the device is just amazing. I guess the high resolution display, multi-touch, and light weight of the device make the good user experience for me. For those who still doubt the small screen of iPod-touch (iPhone) is difficult for the net browsing, you got to give it a try. I would say, iPod-Touch is on my top list of pleasant user experience.

Comments like this make me want to sell AAPL tomorrow. It seems most bullish comments are of this caliber. We even have AOL’s multiple exclamation points!!!!!!!!!

“This train will not be stopped and no games will be played by the large funds. people are not stupid. Apple will see 250 to 300 from earnings thru 2/15!!!!!!!!”

Net Applications’ tool is called “Market Share” and measures web traffic; notice the capital letters. So many quote it as market share, as in units sold, using lower-case letters. The article does explain what the number mean at the bottom but does quote the number as market share which is mis-leading.

Anyone notice Vista traffic which grew by a full percentage point in December, at 10.48% surpasses both MacIntel and MacOS combined, which is 7.3%.

Also, how come the iPod number at 0.02% while iPhone number is at 0.12%? iPod Touch users do not use the web very much? I assume there are many more Touch users than iPhone and that the Touch users connect using much faster WI-FI.

MacIntel=MacWindows?

The “Mac OS up 7.3%” is a very misleading statement…Mac OS is standing clearing at 3.28% in the report. Does the reporter finished his 12th grade?

you cannot mix up system stats with hardware stats. Still not a bad # for hardware sales.

- - -

ex ped: Not so fast, Tony. If you take a second look at the chart, you’ll see that Net Applications reports Macs that run on Intel chips separately from Macs than run on PowerPCs (which for some reason they refer to as Mac OS). The full total Mac OS X share is 3.28% plus 4.01%, or 7.3%.

Also, the report has Mac share growing 7.35% over the previous month, not 7.3%.

–Philip Elmer-DeWitt

This survey conveniently leaves out the RIMM Blackberries and all other phone devices that also access the Internet and have outsold the iPhone by several hundred to 1.

Take note and I quote “Net Applications’ monthly surveys do not measure market share in terms of computer systems sold.” although that is what this survey is trying to imply.
This is the most ridiculous and slanted survey I’ve ever seen. It goes to explain that other stat that says “That suggests that better than 1 out of every 1,000 people on the Internet are browsing the Web using an iPhone.” Are they nuts?

It also mentions Wii access to the internet but it completely omits by the Xbox who is the king of multiplayer games over the net.

It also doesn’t take into account that in most business it is against company policy to access the Web and some business for security reasons block network access to the internet altogether.

And it also doesn’t say how many Mac users are actually running Windows applications on their Mac. It seems like every time I see someone working on a Mac that they are flipping to Windows mode. That to me makes the Mac an overpriced fashion item more than a useful item.

I am very bullish on aapl but some of these comments are unreasonable. Apple WILL climb into Macworld and earnings, and I’m certain earnings will be great. But this is January, after earnings there will be some profit taking. Its just the way the market works. But come mid-February and March, Apple will be back and making new highs!

What exactly does this survey measure? The logs of my websites show Mac about 8% and Linux about 4%. The Mac 8% is consistent with this report, but I see much higher Linux numbers.

Apple stock strong buy!!!

Price Target Raised to $700

Going up, up, up. I used Windows for years but I’m switching to Mac this year. Apple deserves all the best for making a great product line.

When you feel foolish for even thinking about selling, you know you’re seeing a top.

I got an Iphone for christmas. I love it.
Tom

This is only the beginning for AAPL. I also think Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR) is a very good way to play iphone’s massive growth. The software provided by SNCR activates all iphones.

Does anyone really believe that Apple stock price is going down from here with all this good news and momentum? Get serious. Apple is the best tech stock to own in 08 and every fund manager will be scooping up as many shares as they can starting tomorrow. Apple will blow away this quarters earnings, will raise guidance, and will split 3 for 1. Oh, did I forget to mention MacWorld in 10 days? These trends are amazing for Apple who will tear the cover off the ball starting tomorrow. This train will not be stopped and no games will be played by the large funds. people are not stupid. Apple will see 250 to 300 from earnings thru 2/15!!!!!!!!

Writing this on my MacBook (I have a PC laptop for work and a Mac laptop for home) and my wish for 2008 is that laptop manufacturers work to make laptops not just faster but more reliable. Technology exists now to help keep laptops in peak performance. The question is, will laptop manufacturers do it?

Read more at:

http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/2007/12/laptop-innovation-we-all-need.html

Apple will be over 210 by Friday and 220 by 1/12!