LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.
Other World Computing: OWC Mercury Elite FW800/FW400/USB2/eSATA TOP-RATED Solutions offer High Performance, Reliable storage for all your data storage needs. Industry leading 2yr limited + up to 5yr HD Mechanism Warranty too! Up to 2.0TB(2000GB), 500GB specials from $199.99
NEW MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB Kit $104 / 4GB Kit $184 / 8GB Kit $362 Click to Maximize your Macs...
Mark Twain is purported to have said, "There are lies, damned
lies, and statistics."
Whether he actually said it or not, the fact remains that
statistics can and do lie. Of all computer users, Mac users should
know it best.
Remember the 3% and 4% market share figures we saw when Apple
seemed on its deathbed? Well, they were only partly true - they
only measured part of the computer market.
Worse, market share numbers only apply to current sales. They
tell us nothing about the installed base. So even when Apple had a
5% market share, anywhere from 10-15% of all computer users were
using Macs. (See Mac installed
base, MacInTouch)
After all, we don't sell our existing computers every month,
quarter, or year!
More Lies
A recent study by WebSide Story showed that only 3% of web users
are on Macs. This is suspiciously low for a platform with at least
10% of the installed base!
The problem isn't the numbers, but how they were derived.
WebSide Story used HitBOX Tracker. As Ben Wilson of MacCentral
notes, "It should be emphasized that the HitBOX service only
provides a viewer for Windows, meaning not many Mac-specific sites
are likely to use the service."
Simply stated: if you use a platform related measuring tool,
results will be skewed toward that platform.
Real Statistics
A survey of visitors to Low End Mac shows very different results
from those created by WebSide Story:
58.5% use the Mac OS (not 2.7%), and only 36.6% use Windows
(not 94.5%)
63.8% browse with Netscape, 34.3% with Internet Explorer (not
68.7%), and 0.7% use iCab
Admittedly, these numbers show a bias toward the Mac side, just
as the WebSide statistics show a pro-Microsoft bias in both OS and
browser.
The Truth
The truth is, we'll never have precise figures comparing Mac OS,
Linux, Windows, and other market share or installed base. And any
survey of the internet will be biased by the sites and software
used - sometimes just a little, but sometimes a great deal.
In reality, Mac users comprise somewhere over 10% of the
installed base, but probably less than 15%. Based on that and the
ease of connecting all but the oldest Macs to the internet, we can
estimate that Mac users are at least as likely to be on the
internet as Windows users, so at least 10% (and perhaps as high as
20%) of internet users are Mac users.
Anyone purporting to offer statistics on something as vague as
the installed base or use of the internet with three or four digits
of precision is being unrealistic. While the numbers may
mathematically provide a figure of great precision, the nature of
the study leaves a margin of error of several percentage points -
just like those public opinion polls in the press and on TV.
We can safely say that Windows users outnumber Mac users in the
home, in the office, and on the internet. We can estimate there are
about seven times as many Windows users as Mac users.
Beyond that, we have to remember that there is a great margin of
error in these surveys. I would be a fool to extrapolate from
visitors to my site and claim that almost 60% of all computers on
the internet are Macs, despite the numbers which could be construed
to "prove" it.
Further Reading
More Web Traffic Statistics Controversy, MacTimes, 4/13
Mac
installed base, MacInTouch, 3/26
"...the percentage of Macs in the world is closer to 12%."
Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986,
sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and
has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Recent Mac Musings
Beyond the Mac mini, 05.16.
What if Apple were to think different and eliminate the built-in optical drive, cut $100 from the price, and offer an expansion chassis?
50% Mac sales growth is only the beginning, 05.02.
Apple has a great line of computers and an awesome operating system, but a prosumer model could make last quarter's growth seem normal.
The 2008 Penryn iMac value equation, 04.29.
Comparing prices, features, and performance, three of four new models are value champions, and there are some surprising refurb values as well.
Best Mac mini deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.16.
Used 1.25 GHz G4 Combo, $449;; refurb 1.5 Core Solo, $450; 1.66 Duo SD, $489; 1.83, $599; ; new 1.83 Core2, $569 after rebate; 2.0 SD, $769 a/r.
Best 15" PowerBook G4 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.16.
Used 1 GHz Combo, $550; 1.25 SD, $575; 1.33, $625; 1.5, $675; 1.67, $725; hi-res, $800.
Best classic iPod deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.16.
Used 20 GB, $120; 30, $140; 40, $160; 60 color, $189; 30 video, $180; 60, $200; refurb 80 classic, $209; new, $230; refurb 160, $299; new, $330.
Best iBook G4 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.16.
Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo w/AP, $350; 1.33 GHz w/o AP, $400; 14" 933 MHz w/AP, $400; 1.07 GHz, $425; 1.33 SuperDrive, $450; 1.42, $500.
Best iPhone deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.16.
New 8 GB iPhone, $399; 16 GB, $499.
Best Mac Pro deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.16.
Refurb 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,888; 2.8, $1,999; 3.0, $2,299; 8-core '07, $2,499; new 2.8 4-core, $2,199; 8-core, $2,598 after rebate; 3.0 '08 $3,399 a/r; 3.2, $4,169 a/r.
Mac of the Day: PowerBook 500 Series, May 1994 - 25-33 MHz 68040 powered PowerBooks with smart batteries, grayscale and color displays.
List of the Day: Tiger List is for anyone using Mac OS X 10.4.
May 16 in LEM history: 98: iMac: A second look - 00: Raised in a 6-color world - 01: The exclusivist Mac - Troubleshooting your Mac - 02: MP3 and the Mac - SE/30 catharsis - 03: Don't confuse a pretty interface for an easy OS - SCSI and OS X on a beige G3 - 05: The Apple III and Lisa era - Bigger, faster, more: Enough! - G4 upgrade for iMac A-D - 06: MacBook - PowerBook 3400: Surprisingly useful and spry - 07: MacBook value equation - 3 GB in a MacBook
Windows on Macs: Three paths for integration, Jason Packer, Macs in the Enterprise, 05.14.
Mac users have three routes for running Windows apps: Run Windows using Boot Camp or virtualization, or use a compatibility layer such as WINE.
Best iMac G4 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.14.
Used 15" 800 MHz Combo, $320; SuperDrive, $380; 1 GHz Combo, $400; SD, $485; 17" 1.25 GHz, $459; 20", $750.
Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.14.
Mac OS X 10.0.3, $40; 10.1, $49; 10.2, $60; 10.3 DVD, $50; CD, $100; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $109; 10.3 Server, $130.
Best MacBook Air deals, Low End Mac Deals, 05.14.
1.6 GHz, 80 GB, $1,694 after rebate; 1.8 GHz, $1,994 a/r; 1.6 GHz, 64 GB SSD, $2,689 a/r; 1.8 GHz, $2,950 a/r; SuperDrive, $99.
All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For
price quotes and advertising information, please contact
at BackBeat Media
(646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.
Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer
5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We
recommend Firefox
for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more
secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox
than any other browser.
