I have a few replies to various things posted on this thread. 1) Apple's market share. Steve Watkins says he doesn't see many Macs in the UK. Yes, I agree, it varies by geography. In the San Francisco Bay Area, where I am, Macs have far greater than 10% share, maybe as high as 20% or more, and it's been growing noticably for the last year. No, Apple is not a big enough employer to affect those numbers. Most technology trends seem to start here, so I'd say that the Bay Area is usually a leading indicator for technology trends.
2) Flip4Mac makes Windows Media viable on Macs. C'mon, folks! True, Quicktime fans have been pushing Windows folks to download Quicktime from the Apple site, but there's a *huge* difference in the name recognition of Apple and the name recognition of Flip4Mac. People fail to download free apps for two primary reasons: 1) it's a pain, and 2) they don't trust the company behind the download. Until some huge company (like Microsoft) buys Flip4Mac, it won't be a big factor. 3) Windows Media is easy to output, according to Josh Kinberg. A very large percentage of web video (half?) is created on Macs with Final Cut Pro and iMovie, and on Macs creating a Windows Media file is not very easy. Ease of output is one of the achilles heels of Flash Media (easily the best cross platform solution from a viewing point of view), but the recent Adobe acquisition should change that issue radically. They own Premiere, of course, but also, they have the muscle and the experience w/ PDF to cut deals w/ lots of other software vendors. 4) Sites changing from Windows Media. Others don't believe my prediction. I know of at least two major sites that will soon make the change from Windows Media to Flash Video in the near future. One is very popular with videobloggers, and the other is a huge consumer site. Stay tuned this year, folks... --- In [email protected], "Steve Watkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Well Im no fan of windows media, but Im also more than a little > skeptical about hopes that Apples market share is going to go large > enough soon enough to make your conclusions totally valid. > > Is all this 'market share' stuff just based on volumes of computers > sold in any particular quarter? If so then this doesnt tell us what > percentage of active computers on the net are Macs, which is more > important. > > If I wasnt into VJing then I could go for years without meeting > anybody in the UK with a Mac. Nobody at work even considers Apple when > getting a new computer. We've only had a Apple retail store or 2 here > in the UK for a few years. Apple are only just opening their first > store in continental Europe. > > I believe that Macs already have a disproportionately large number of > column inches dedicated towards them, and Apple get a much easier ride > with the press, not least because quite a lot of journalists have Macs. > > Personally I would want to consider cross-platform compatibility when > developing a site/service, but I still expect Windows-based machines > to dominate for years to come. > > For Apples share to change significantly in the short-medium term, > they need to get cheaper. I bought 2 Macs last year but really they > reprensent very very poor value compared to the equivalent PC. The new > Mac Intel chips will help this a bit, but the price of PC stuff just > keep tumbling so I dunno, hard to tell what will happen. > > Steve of Elbows > > --- In [email protected], "Mike Lanza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Meanwhile, Macs recently passed 5% market share for PCs. > > > > They almost doubled market share right before switching > microprocessor platforms, a time > > when nearly everyone expected their share to dip. Thus, I'd say > it's clear that Mac is headed > > for upper single digits, if not double-digits. > > > > My conclusion is that any site based on this lame format is, well, > lame for using it. As the > > Mac continues to gain market share in 2006, I predict that Windows > Media will be dropped by > > many, if not most, of the serious web video sites using it today. > > > Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
