SHBOUM@MACALSTR.EDU (04/04/91)
In a previous article, Randy Hyde writes: >> Concidering that there are 7 million Apple II's out there and only 2 million >> macs, I don't think it would be too hard. > I would like to see references for these numbers. While I suspect Apple > may have sold more Apple II systems than Macs (in total volume only), I'm > pretty sure the Mac numbers are *much* higher than this. Also, seven > million Apple IIs seems kinda high. They didn't hit one million units until > around 1983 if memory serves me right. Although the Apple IIgs has been > the big (unit) sales leader for many Christmases since 1985, I suspect the > Mac has been outselling (on a yearly basis) the last couple of years. > Now that the Classic is out, I suspect you'll find that it becomes the > big sales leader (they were predicting a million of those alone, this year). > I don't know how many Macs and Apple IIs have been sold. But I suspect > Apple has sold me than 2 million Macs since 1984. I'd like to see where I've been following Apple II / Mac sales for about 3-4 years now, although I do not yet know any solid numbers for this decade. Anyways. Currently there are both over 6 million Macs and 6 million Apple II's. With the volume of Macs being sold, I do not doubt that this should reach 7 million soon {although Apple did a really brilliant move with the $250 million dollar backlog on Mac's right now - 4 months for a Classic!}. However, Macs did not always sell well and only about 20 months ago did Mac sales finally pass Apple II sales. However its not really the II's fault when the position that Apple has taken with the market the past 4 years is that its the ONLY computer that it makes that you should buy. So when you open the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Mac Weekly, all you see is Macintosh. Not even a small word about its II line. So no wonder why sales have dropped, no one knows about the II anymore. Despite this awesome advertising scheme that Apple did for the II line, the IIGS has sold very well. Randy is right that it was the sales leader for Chirstmases. Take the Christmas '88 where it sold 33,000 units to the home market compared to only 13,000 for the Mac SE and onther 6,000 for the Mac Plus. In fact, from 1986-1989 the IIGS accounted for over 20% of total UNIT sales at Apple Co. But rather than seeing that they had something going here, they guzzeled more money into the Mac, and made a big deal when it finally passed Apple II sales. Well lets look at the current score. 6 million Apple II's, 7 million macs, 70 million IBM/clones. Well guys, look who really won. | Hal Bouma | Send mail to: SHBoum@Macalstr.edu | Macalester College | and SHBoum@Macalstr.Bitnet | GEnie: H.Bouma | ".Sig Under Construction..."
axi0349@isc.rit.edu (A.X. Ivasyuk ) (04/04/91)
In article <9A8D7DF7A020F033@MACALSTR.EDU> SHBOUM@MACALSTR.EDU writes: >In a previous article, Randy Hyde writes: > >>> Concidering that there are 7 million Apple II's out there and only 2 million >>> macs, I don't think it would be too hard. > >> I would like to see references for these numbers. While I suspect Apple >> may have sold more Apple II systems than Macs (in total volume only), I'm >> pretty sure the Mac numbers are *much* higher than this. Also, seven > >Well lets look at the current score. 6 million Apple >II's, 7 million macs, 70 million IBM/clones. Well guys, look who really won. > >| Hal Bouma | Send mail to: SHBoum@Macalstr.edu >| Macalester College | and SHBoum@Macalstr.Bitnet >| GEnie: H.Bouma | ".Sig Under Construction..." I've been following the news on a couple of things in reference to the Mac. First, Nutek has developed a chip set which is reportedly compatible with the Mac, and implements most or all of the Toolbox calls. Nutek also licensed Motif from OSF to use as the window interface, so they wouldn't have problems with Apple's copyrights. They expect computers base on this chip set to be available by the end of the year at ridiculously low prices, as compared to Mac. Second, InfoWorld reported that John Sculley said that Apple would license the Mac OS to third parties. Perhaps this is from pressure by Nutek, perhaps not, but the fact remains that as soon as third parties get in on the Mac bandwagon, there will be a lot more of those machines at much better prices than there is now. These two moves should greatly enlarge the share of the marketplace held by the Mac and compatible computers. Of course it will take time, but the number of Macs may eventually catch up to the PC clones, or maybe not. :) -Anatole -- Anatoly Ivasyuk @ Computer Science House @ Rochester Institute of Technolgy (anatoly@ritcsh.csh.rit.edu) || (axi0349@ultb.isc.rit.edu)
rhyde@ucrmath.ucr.edu (randy hyde) (04/05/91)
Interesting comment floating around the Mac Conferences on BIX: Mac 512KE and Mac Plus users are complaining because Apple has dropped support for their machines with the upcoming release of System 7.0. Don't think we're all alone! *** Randy Hyde
torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie) (04/06/91)
rhyde@ucrmath.ucr.edu (randy hyde) writes: >Interesting comment floating around the Mac Conferences on BIX: >Mac 512KE and Mac Plus users are complaining because Apple has >dropped support for their machines with the upcoming release of >System 7.0. Don't think we're all alone! I think that should be Mac 128 and Mac 512 users. 512KE and Pluses will definitely run System 7.0, so long as they have 2MB of memory. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Evan Torrie. Stanford University, Class of 199? torrie@cs.stanford.edu "If it weren't for your gumboots, where would you be? You'd be in the hospital, or in-firm-ary..." F. Dagg
express@pro-grouch.cts.com (Jeff Goodman) (04/07/91)
In-Reply-To: message from rhyde@ucrmath.ucr.edu Yes I saw Mac Pluses being resold new through a mail order catalog for $600, but from what I understand, they could do some memory upgrade stuff and then they would be able to run system 7 if they had a hard drive as well. I don't know that for sure cause I'm stuck in the past with my IIe, and so far, I still like it that way.
SHBOUM@MACALSTR.EDU (04/07/91)
In an earlier article, Anatole writes: > These two moves should greatly enlarge the share of the marketplace > held by the Mac and compatible computers. Of course it will take time, > but the number of Macs may eventually catch up to the PC clones, or > maybe not. :) {The two moves were about Nutek's ROM clone and Apple licencing out its O/S} The only problem is with Apple letting go of its control over 3rd parties making Mac clones is that Apple's profit margins will go down the tubes. Which would really mess over Apple. One of the reasons why the Macs are more expenisive is that you're paying for all that wonderful GUI to make your computing easier. Just to show how much that costs, Apple spent over $400 million last year on R&D, and I don't think the II line got that much of it. Thus I don't see Apple wanting to see the prices of Macs drop too far because it has to pay for developing the line too as well as develop its upcoming mac replacement. {and our II line as well!} - Hal | Hal Bouma | Send mail to: SHBoum@Macalstr.edu | Macalester College | and SHBoum@Macalstr.Bitnet | GEnie: H.Bouma | ".Sig Under Construction..."