Apple’s Mac computers have steadily gained market share over the years, but this could come to an end when the new Windows 7 launches later this week, despite Apple reporting record sales of their MAC PC’s yesterday.
For the last four months, I have been running the new Windows 7 operating system and it is a vast improvement on the current Vista offering from Microsoft.
It is stable significantly faster and easier to use. It also comes with some Mac like features deliver a new level of capability which in the past has been missing from the Windows OS.
To build its new operating system, Microsoft needed to do more than fix the flaws of its predecessor. The company also had to address major bugs in its software development process, which it appears to have done.
However the same cannot be said for their recent upgraded Windows Explorer web browser, which constantly keeps crashing.
While few expect the new software to dent Apple’s standing in the marketplace, I believe that the combination of new processors from Intel coupled with a new Windows operating system a host of stylish new notebooks, netbooks and PC’s from a host of mainstream vendors will have an impact and give Microsoft the lift they are looking for.
Some analysts warn that Windows 7 — which is garnering strong early reviews — may initially slow Apple’s advancement and apply more pressure on Mac prices as PC vendors launch a variety of low cost Windows based notebooks.
Microsoft’s Vista operating system, released in early 2007, was plagued by problems and bad press. For Apple, this meant an opportunity that the company seized upon as they rolled out a new Snow Leopard operating system and a new generation of Mac PC’s including a wafer thin Mac Air which Sony is desperately trying to emulate.
But if the new Microsoft offering works as expected, Apple may not be able to count on Windows’ clumsiness as a sales driver.
“New Mac users continually tell us that they are tired of all the headaches with Windows, and they want the ease of use, stability and security of a Mac,” an Apple spokesperson said. “At the end of the day Windows 7 is still just Windows.”
In Australia Microsoft has been concentrating on relationship marketing to spruik their new operating system, including the idea of consumers running Windows 7 house parties. However this backfired with several participants’s complaining that they had not received their copy of the new operating system which they are suppose to demonstrate.
Although Apple is not among the top five PC makers globally, it ranks No. 4 in the market according to research group Gartner, with a market share of 8.7 percent. Three years ago, Apple’s share was 4.6 percent.
