The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Apple is a company that has been called on the verge of death for 10 years now. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple computers has consistently had faith in his company and has told people again and again that Apple is about innovation, change, and getting people to use their computers in new ways. Last week, PC Magazine made history when it named two Apple products to its list of best products of the year. Apple's latest operating system, called Panther, was named the OS of the year, and iTunes, software designed by Apple but also available for Windows machines to download and organize music, was named the top piece of consumer software of the year. Apple likes to compare itself to a company like Ferrari or Rolls Royce. While Windows has a market share above 90%, and Internet Explorer is used by above 94% of people to surf the Internet, Apple machines are used by around 5% of the general public. However, when markets are broken down, Apple machines are used in over 50% of schools, and by well over 70% of people involved in occupations such as graphic design. As well, research shows that when the actual cost of owning a computer is added up, including repair costs and upgrades, the higher initial price of purchasing an Apple machine is more than set off. Apple is a company which strives very hard to be different, to be innovative, to grow itself a strong market in certain niches. The company's main marketing strategy revolves around the fact that it wants its machines to be digital hubs. For example, they make it extremely easy to connect digital still and video cameras to every machine they build. Every Apple machine is capable of capturing and editing video, something relatively few basic Windows machines can do. Over the past year, Apple's biggest success has been in the music market. Their iTunes music store (which is still not available without an American billing address) has over 700,000 songs available for download at 99 cents each. As well, their iPod Mp3 players come in many colours, sizes, and storage capacities. While once again, costing more up front, iPods have proven themselves to be indispensable, able to play back music, audio books, serve as a voice recorder, and play music over your radio while traveling in your using a small optional adaptor. iPods come in a range of sizes up to 60GB., which will store up to an estimated 10,000 songs. A mini player goes on sale in Canada on July 1st which is about the size of a credit card and will still hold about 1,000 songs. Apple has also changed the face of computing in the past year because over 40% of its computers that have been sold have been laptops. More people want to take their machine with them when they travel and have access to their documents wherever they are. As well, with more and more businesses such as Starbucks, McDonalds, and this week announced by Hyatt Hotels, having wireless Internet connections available in their buildings, a laptop makes good sense. Apple has been in the forefront of wireless connections, with most of their machines having wireless cards standard. Ten years ago everyone thought the company was dead, now they are pushing the envelope of innovation and it looks like clear sailing ahead. ([email protected])
