Reasons why not to go Macintosh

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Reason 33 : "If the Mac was any good, it wouldn't have such a tiny market share"

Significance:

One criticism often levelled at the Macintosh, is its market share level at some sub 10% level being held up as some beacon of logic as to why they should be avoided. After all, 90% (or so) of PC buyers can't be wrong... can they?

Okay, let's talk market share! Four points to cover:

1. What is 'market share'?
2. What is the Mac's market share?
3. Why does the Mac have the market share it does?
4. Does it matter?

1. What is 'market share'?

Right off the bat, one thing market share is not, is an indicator of how many people use a particular product. What market share is however, is simply what percentage of total sales a particular product or brand had, in a particular category, in a particular time period, in a particular location. The ambiguity is that theoretically, one set of parameters can give 100% market share, and 0% in another.

Installed user base share is much more telling, but unfortunately, that's not really possible to accurately, definitively determine. Just be mindful that there may be various ancillary factors that mean they may not be the same.

Determining a definitive percentage of the Mac's market share is nigh impossible. There are so many variables, you will get vastly different figures from one source to the next. For example:

• Market share of Macs tend to be higher just after a new model is released, or new major OS update.

• Market share of Macs vary from model to model; e.g. laptops tends to be higher than desktops.

• Market share of Macs tend to be higher in developed countries, such as the United States; much higher than the total worldwide market share.

• Market share of Macs is higher within some demographics than others; e.g. they're hugely more popular for home usage (plus smaller niche markets, such as creative industries) than within the corporate market, which makes up approximately half of total PCs sold.

• Market share of Macs will differ from one retailer to another.

But of course, as said before, being as market share only tells you how many PCs are being sold right now, that doesn't tell you how many PCs purchased in years past are still being actively used, i.e. the installed user base. How many PCs sold 10 years ago are still in everyday use today for instance?

Traditionally, a higher percentage of vintage Macs have tended to be kept running, and indeed still being sold on the used market, long after similar percentage of similarly vintage PCs have been sent to landfill or consigned to basement storage. But whether that's still the case today, is difficult to say with any certainty. If it is, that would indicate the Mac's installed user base will be higher than current market share would suggest.

Okay, gimme a number dammit!

The level of Internet usage registered may be able to give a vague idea as to where the Mac stands right now in the installed user base share; marketshare.hitslink.com provides the current aggregation of Internet traffic across selected websites that use their service, which (when last I checked) puts the Mac at approximately... (drum roll)... 7%. That's about 1 in 14, and rising. Not too shabby...

...but also not definitive. Just one source of many, plus of course using a method of counting that doesn't include any computers not connected to the Internet. Think of it as a guideline only.

More people choose Windows than any other platform. Why is that? Why didn't they choose a Mac instead?

1. Those who didn't really have a choice, e.g. they're in a part of the world where the Mac is just not an option.

2. Those of significant multiple platform experience, who have deduced that from their perspective, the negatives of a Mac outweigh the positives – and/or vice-versa for Windows – meaning Windows is simply the better choice for them.

3. Those of a certain degree of familiarity with Macs, but they simply prefer Windows. Or perhaps they're so set in their ways, or ingrained within the Windows way of working, they simply cannot adapt to that which is even slightly different.

4. Those who've never actually tried a Mac to any significant degree or recentness, but they assume, or were told the Mac is an inferior or unsuitable choice, or has no compelling, quantifiable advantages over the more ubiquitous Windows choice. It is largely for such individuals why this site exists.

5. Those of anti-anything-Apple or pro-anything-Microsoft sentiment; often reasonably technically competent individuals, who out of some fundamental, yet irrational paranoid principle, would rather do without a computer at all than sully themselves using a Mac! (spit)

6. They simply never even considered a Mac. They use Windows because everyone else does.

Additionally...

Expanding on the above, and to add a few significant additional sub-points:

• Inertia: Microsoft gained domination of the PC industry long long ago, back when arguably Apple and the Mac were not as healthy as they are today, and Linux had not yet taken its first tentative steps. Their critics may pour scorn on their products as being inferior, but they are entrenched at the top, and if nothing else, the flock mentality will keep it that way for the foreseeable future.

• Ignorance: Generally speaking, there are still a significant portion of individuals – and not just computer illiterates – who are still largely ignorant of Macs; what they're about, how they differ, why they differ, and whether those differences are a benefit or not compared to 'normal' PCs... or indeed that they even have any benefits at all.

• Fear of the unknown: Even if the Mac was a better option for many more people than currently use them, only the most adventurous risk takers or technology junkies will make any meaningful steps to find this out for themselves. The massively larger majority tend to stick with what they know, regardless.

• Existing investment: Switching platforms is not to be taken lightly. Existing software may need to be re-purchased, and probably even more importantly, there'll be a reluctance to give up an existing investment of knowledge. It's difficult to justify change when one is ingrained into the Windows way of working, especially when one may see little compelling reason to do so.

• The corporate market: A large percentage of PCs sold, are into the corporate market where Windows is entrenched, and is largely set in its ways. As such, it does all serve to roughly halve the potential market share of Macs, whose largest portion of take up is in the home market, plus smaller niche markets such as educational, scientific, publishing, and creative industries.

Or because they're not very good?

It's often said the simplest explanation usually tends to be the right one, but on this occasion, it isn't. Granted, a Mac may not completely fit the needs and wants of everyone, but for many numerous reasons covered here on this site and on this very page, they are used by much less people than would be perfectly adequately served by one, or maybe even benefit from.

While the Mac's market share compared to most other PC manufacturers is quite healthy, from a computing platform perspective, the Mac is a very distant 2nd place. But the burning question is, is it a problem, and is it a persuasive argument for giving it a miss?

As said before, despite not being the biggest PC manufacturer, they are one of the most profitable, so from Apple's business perspective, clearly a small market share is not of much of a problem for them. So any question of Apple going down the tubes, and hence the Mac platform not being around for much longer, is unlikely in the foreseeable future.

See also reason 25; 'Apple's going out of business soon'

And the bad news?

If there is a downside to small market share, it surrounds the platform's third party ecosystem. The viability of a computing platform is largely dictated by how much third party support it receives in the form of software, hardware, and content. The smaller the share, the less compelling it is for those third party developers and providers to devote resources to providing support and compatibility with their products. And consequently, the less software, hardware, and content available, the less compelling the platform becomes for potential buyers. Catch 22. Therefore, anything that causes, or does nothing to break this cycle, is obviously undesirable.

So is the Mac's market share too low to be a viable platform?

We know there are less software titles for Mac OS than Windows; and there will be the occasional bit of peripheral hardware that isn't supported on Macs (usually relating to driver software); and there will be some audio, video, or web content that isn't compatible with any Mac OS software (usually relating to proprietary Microsoft standards restricted to their platform only); but on the whole, for most people, in most circumstances, most of the time, there's enough to be going along with.

So...

...in summary, small market share in itself is not a problem, but the consequences of such could occasionally be a minor inconvenience. But enough to avoid the platform altogether? I guess that's a matter of perspective.

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