The reality of market share

Posted by ejeagles52 on July 9, 2012 10:40 pm 30

It seems like some people think that Apple is in a problematic state right now. Microsoft fans state all the time that 90% of computers sold run Windows software compared to OSX's 5-9%. Google fans also love to state the rise of Android and its immense rise in the last 4 years and that Apple should be so called worried. I'd like to disprove both how both these view points are flawed and that, indisputably, Apple is doing way better than both of them.

Disclaimer: I am not saying that Windows 7/8 or Android are bad. In fact, I use a Galaxy Nexus as my main phone, and I use a custom-built PC at my house. What I am saying is that from a business perspective, there is no question that iOS and OSX are doing better than both. This is my first post, so I might have some issues with it. Sorry if I do :)

Android and the fake image of success

Android is, inherently, a fragmented mobile OS. Samsung, HTC, Asus, and others can really make Android into anything they want, and their is no immediate need to update their software because, ultimately, consumers don't care. That's a bad thing, because I would argue that most consumers don't care about Android at all. In reality, most consumers care about the actual OEM's making their Android phones. Other than the listed OEM's listed above, Android has not really helped the fortunes of Android device makers all that much(HTC shouldn't be listed as well). So while Google might be stoked because of the great marketshare it has achieved over the past two years, OEMs aren't feeling too great.

Apple, however, has made people care about the iPhone, and since Apple has the mindshare of millions of people, they feel. I won't say that Google won't be able to get common consumers to actually care about Android, but I know it'll take a long time to get the same type of mindshare that Apple and Microsoft have with their marquee products. Plus, with Apple's stranglehold on supply chain, it will be an uphill battle for

Microsoft and their success in the wrong market

http://www.bgr.com/2012/07/02/windows-7-market-share-2012-microsoft-global-os-share/

I think it's safe to say that Windows 7 is a success. It has made Microsoft billions over the past 3 years, and I'm sure Windows 8 has a good chance of achieving the same success, if not more so. People like to tout out 90% market share as a success story, but I'd like to know where most of that comes from. The answer? Companies and middle to lower class households.

http://betanews.com/2009/07/22/apple-has-91-of-market-for-1-000-pcs-says-npd/

The link above shows that Apple has the market that all hardware companies covet which is the premium market. That is the market where the profit margins come from, and Apple has it completely locked it down. This market is why ultrabooks are getting pushed heavily by PC OEMs. They need them to succeed or else they might even leave the market entirely. The next time a Microsoft fan states superiority over Macs because of marketshare, an Apple fan should have the right to say that consumers would overwhelming buy Macs if they could afford one.

So what does all that mean?

Apple, Google, and Microsoft all make great products, but there should be a distinction made between the three. Google is a software company that makes their money from advertisements, so the more market share for them the better. Whether that marketshare translates to success for companies using Android is another question. Microsoft is a software company that makes most of its money selling Windows and Office, so the more marketshare the better for them as well. Apple is a hardware company first and foremost, just like OEMs. They make money on their hardware which consumers actually use. This is why I think Apple should be judged by things other than software since they're playing a whole different game from both Google and Microsoft. The iPhone 4S competes with the Galaxy Nexus, not Jelly Bean, and the Macbook Air competes with the Zenbook instead of OSX.

tl;dr: Marketshare is a terrible way to judge Apple's success and should be judged by other hardware makers rather than the software they produce since Apple is hardware company.