Apple Devices To Reach Parity With Windows PCs In 2014 511
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Horace Dediu writes at Aymco that in 2013 there were 18.8 times more Windows PCs sold than Macs, a reduction in the Windows advantage from about 19.8x in 2012. But the bigger story is how Apple's mobile platform including iOS devices has nearly reached the sales volume of Windows. In 2013 there were only 1.18 more Windows PCs than Apple devices sold. Odds are that in 2014 Apple and Windows will be at parity. Dediu says that the Windows advantage itself came from the way computing was purchased in the period of its ascent in the 1980s and 1990s 'when computing platform decisions were made first by companies then by developers and later by individuals who took their cues from what standards were already established. As these decisions created network effects, the cycle repeated and the majority platform strengthened.' There was concentration in decision making in the 80s so a platform could win by convincing 500 individuals who had the authority (as CIOs) to impose through fiat a standard on the centers of gravity of purchasing power. Today, with mobile products there are billions of decision makers. and the decision making process for buying computers, which began with large companies IT departments making decisions with multi-year horizons, has changed to billions of individuals making decisions with no horizons. Companies have become the laggards and individuals the early adopters of technology. 'Ultimately, it was the removal of the intermediary between buyer and beneficiary which dissolved Microsoft's power over the purchase decision,' concludes Dediu. 'The computer has become personal not just in the sense of how it's used but in the sense of how it's owned.' Finally, all the above is almost moot, given the rise of Android, something that is beating both Cupertino and Redmond alike."
How is this news (Score:3, Informative)
What about Samsung? (Score:5, Informative)
Apple apparently sold around 260M devices in 2013.
I can't find a full year for Samsung, but they sold 117M phones in Q3 alone.
Q1: 64M
Q2: 70M
Q3: 117M
That's 251M in just 3 quarters. Phones only, no tablets, no laptops.
Apple sales include Mac, iPods, iPhones and iPads.
Apple "devices"? (Score:5, Informative)
Apple "devices"? So they're including iPods and phones in this? lol
Apple marketing at its best.
Re:Units sold or already out? (Score:5, Informative)
At 3:1 or 4:1 though, Android will handle that by the end of this year.
Android may have already passed Windows installed base. Gartner estimates there were 1.63 billion Windows PCs in the world at the end of 2013, and that around 850 million Android devices sold in the same year. Android sales in 2012 were just under 800 milion, up about 35% from 2011.
The global average lifespan of a moble device is hard to find, but most estimates put it at around 22-25 months. Adding the numbers suggests Android has already passed Windows, or at the very least achieved parity with it.
I'm not sure why we're discussing Apple in this context at all. I guess we just like also-rans here...
Re:death of the pc? (Score:4, Informative)
Sunspider scores for the iphone 5S and Note 3 are nearly identical to the Core 2 Duo, remember Conroe is 7.5 years or 5 Moore generations ago.
Ok, the Xbox 360 has sold 77 million (Score:4, Informative)
That's the total to date over years....
Or about the same as something like a month or two of iOS sales.
Re:death of the pc? (Score:4, Informative)
Sunspider score? That's more to do with improving Javascript engines than a better CPU! The Note 3's CPU is apparently capable of 930 MFLOPS, while even the lowest end E6300 Core 2 Duo can get 8.8 GFLOPS.
If you count GPU performance then the iPhone 5s has 76.8GFlops, but then consumer graphics cards were up to 1TFlop by 2009.
Re:Discount for keeping old phone might change thi (Score:4, Informative)
Take a look at T-Mobile. Pay full price for the phone, get the service at 1/4th off.
Re:Billions of Androids (Score:5, Informative)
Because while Androids outsell Apple 4:1 or more, there's a very strange thing going on. Mobile web traffic has iOS using TWICE the amount of data over Android. Or, put another way, 1 iOS user consumes as much data as 8 Android users.
Do you have any reliable, current citations for this? The only evidence I have ever seen were some ancient articles on Apple fan sites. My own personal site gets more Android hits than iOS, so I'm sceptical.
If all you find is Apple fan sites (which still reference their sources, btw) then you searched the wrong terms in Google. Try "mobile web traffic report". Here's one example. [walkersands.com]
Re:Units sold or already out? (Score:5, Informative)
I used a 12" powerbook for 4 years before replacing it with a 15" macbook pro, which I'm still using as my primary home machine 6 years later. Over a similar timeframe, I've gone through about 5 computers at work.
Re: Billions of Androids (Score:4, Informative)
flopple
"Flopple"? Seriously? I'm a big Android fan, and really annoyed at much of Apple's recent behavior, and even I think that's lame.
Re:Incorrect correlation (Score:5, Informative)
Second, the PC design was open (although that was only because in the beginning, IBM didn't really believe in the PC), so there was competition also in the PCs themselves.
False. The original IBM PC design was NOT open. Other companies reverse engineered the BIOS and created 'clones' - hence the term 'PC clone'. Some early clones had hardware compatibility issues with the original IBM PC design.
Re:Incorrect correlation (Score:4, Informative)
The BIOS was "open" in that anyone could read it. The Technical Reference Manual included a source listing. It was copyrighted, however, and so could not be used in clones.
Re: Units sold or already out? (Score:3, Informative)
The cost is also what, 1/3 as much for the Nexus versus IPhone?
Nexus 5 from $349 According to Google site
IPhone 5C No Contract - 16 gb $549.
I see best buy has unlocked Nexus 5's for 499.
Been trying to work 1/3rd the price out of that, no luck.