If Apple ever had a chance to increase it's marketshare in the notebook and desktop computer space, it's now. With iPod sales skyrocketing worldwide, the halo effect from the iPod's stratospheric popularity could drive iPod owners to consider switching to Mac.
Other favorable factors in this mix are:
- Microsoft has fallen on relatively hard times. There's some vulnerability there. MSFT is no longer in the enviable position of being able to attract top tech talent by offering stock options.
- Windows hasn't been upgraded much in a long time and the next gen version is still quite a ways off and has been scaled back.
- The Windows computing experience is riddled with worms, viruses, spyware and security problems.
- OS X has established a technical lead over Windows in the desktop OS space. Industry analysts and even many Windows users would acknowledge that the best OS right now is OS X, not Windows XP.
- Apple has more credibility in the Consumer electronics space than Microsoft and that credibility could give them an advantage in the increasingly attractive and growing home entertainment PC space.
This is Apple's chance to score a few share points. Hopefully, they'll jump all over this opportunity before it's gone. The future of the iPod is a question-mark. The iPod is white hot now, but many question whether Apple can sustain it's dominance for long. I would say they've got another year at least but that's not a long time.