[IP] Apple's Growing Army of Converts]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Apple's Growing Army of Converts
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:34:50 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
NOVEMBER 10, 2005
Byte of the Apple
By Arik Hesseldahl
Apple's Growing Army of Converts
Windows users are trying Macs in increasing numbers -- and it's not
just a function of the iPod "halo effect
Nothing fires up a group of Mac users like the chance to score a
convert -- except maybe the chance to offer an opinion on what Mac
someone should buy.
I was reminded of this last week when a BusinessWeek colleague, Rob
Hof, posted a comment on our Tech Beat blog saying he had decided to
switch from using a notebook sporting Microsoft's (MSFT ) Windows to
one of Apple's portables (see BW Online, 11/02/05, "Speaking of
Apple...Some Advice?"). Hof asked readers to advise whether he should
get an iBook or PowerBook. (I linked to his inquiry from our new
Apple-centric blog, which is a companion to this column.)
MORE DEFECTORS? Comments poured in by the score -- many laced with
anti-Microsoft invective, a few touting the virtues of the Linux
operating system over Apple's (AAPL ) Mac OS, most analyzing the
finer points of buying an iBook vs. a PowerBook. All of them were
enthusiastic at the prospect of helping only one single person switch
computing platforms.
But there's a bigger trend at play here. And Charles Wolf, a
financial analyst at Needham & Co. in New York, discussed it in his
latest research note on Apple. While downgrading the stock from to
"hold" from "buy," based on the shares' recent price spike, Wolf
noticed something else: a measurable surge in purchases of Macs by
people who had previously been Windows users.
Wolf has created an interesting forecast model in which he assumes
that 11% of Windows users who buy iPods also purchase Macs at the
same time or soon afterward. The model also assumes that of these new
Mac buyers most stick to the Mac platform and buy a second one when
it comes time to upgrade. The conversions resulted in about a half
million Macs purchased by Windows users in fiscal 2005. In all, Apple
sold 4.5 million Macs in the period, vs. 3.3 million in 2004.
...
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051110_197491.htm
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