Apple Winning in Japan, iPhone in Europe and Apple TV(?)
Apple Winning in Japan
Something odd has been happening in Japan. First of all, PC sales are in decline, by about 5% right now, and Leopard sales are taking off. These two things may not be unrelated. The PC is yesterday’s gadget, but the MAC (iTunes, photos, video) is not.
Apple took 53.9% of the Japanese OS market in October, with the launch of Leopard. If you look at the graphs you see OS X sales increase from 15.5% to 60.5% over the year while Windows drops from 75.3% to 28.7% in the same period. Now we know these are transient figures, due to the Leopard launch, but they are much bigger than they should be. It’s quite possible that a significant market shift is happening here. If so, it will infect the rest of Asia.
The iPhone in Europe
My US associates, who subscribe to the “cult of Apple”, seem a little bewildered by its reception in Europe. First of all, sales in the UK are underwhelming to say the least. It doesn’t surprise any Brits that I talk to. The iPhone has an interesting touch interface, costs lots and you get hit with an expensive phone deal. Friends of mine in the Telecomms business predicted that the iPhone reception would be like that: more of a yawn than a cheer. Right they were. And as for Germany. Well T-Mobile had its “iPhone monopoly” broken in days, by legal action. My US friends aren’t familiar with the idea of a regulated market, which takes note of the interests of the consumer. What a crazy concept!
I doubt if any of this will worry Apple too much. Volume sales are guaranteed in the US. It can bide its time in its approach to the rest of the world.
It’s All Apple All The Time!
Imagine a TV channel that is devoted to Apple; Apple history, Apple news, Apple rumors (there’s more Apple rumors than news), Apple design, Apple personalities, Apple podcasts, YouTube snippets concerning Apple and Apple adverts, I guess. Well there isn’t one, but the Digital Lifestyle just launched the Internet equivalent – a new 24-hour online network dedicated to the Cult of Mac.
Yes, it’s all Apple, all the time. This is a bad idea, a very bad idea. Actually, it’s a terrible idea. I can’t believe this is happening.