Sometimes tough economic times do wake folks up a bit:
Mac Sales Growth Falls Below PCs
At U.S. retail, Windows PC unit sales were up 16.6 percent year over year in January, while Mac sales fell 5.5 percent. In October, when Apple launched snazzy, new MacBooks, Mac unit sales rose 27.2 percent compared with 5.7 percent for Windows. The major difference for the two months between: a rapidly eroding U.S. economy.
The article includes Mac apologist comments about folks fleeing “value” over the issue of “price,” but that’s a bogus argument. Sure, there are times when a luxury Mercedes is the right car for the job, but if all you’re doing is getting to work and back, trips to the grocery store, etc., then a MOR Toyota or even Saturn is just as good.
But the quality difference between a $500 PC and a $1,000 (or usually more) Mac just isn’t as big as the Macultists argue. And the PC platform is still much, much more flexible and has apps that are just as good–even sometimes better–than the Mac platform has available, no matter what phanbois may say.
Personally, I’d rather have the difference in price to spend on more software and peripherals, but that’s just me. Folks who’d rather spend more to use a Mac can still do so, and that’s fine with me too. But apparently, more buyers of computers are seeing the value in having more money in their pocket for other things at the end of their computer purchase.