Material adapted from Guy Kawasaki's EvangeList mailing list, Feb. 15, 1996. Send an email to macway-request@solutions.apple.com for an automatic reply.

Apple Check-Up, February 1996

Market Strength

  • Apple shipped 1.3 million units and generated $3.1 billion in revenues during the quarter ended 12/29/95, more than ever before in its history. Included in this total were over one million PowerPC-based systems.
  • Unit sales of Macintosh software increased by 26.9% over the prior year for the first ten months of 1995, according to the Software Publishers Association.
  • Apple has 63% of the installed base in U.S. K-12 institutions, according to QED. Apple's market share in K-12 has risen four points in the last year.
  • 58% of all K-12 purchases in the 95-96 school year will be Macintosh, per QED.
  • Apple was the number one brand among U.S. college students in 1994, according to Roper College Track. Among full-time, undergraduate students at four-year schools who own personal computers, 29% own Apple-- a full 11% more than the nearest competitor.
  • Apple is the brand of choice in higher education institutions. 19.4% of PCs purchased by higher education institutions in 1994 were Apple computers, according to Computer Intelligence InfoCorp.
  • Macintosh holds a 76.2% share of color-prepress customers and will grow to 77.4% share, according to a 1995 study by Griffin Dix Research Associates.
  • Based on Apple and third-party data, Apple has an estimated 47% share of U.S commercial publishing customers, 26% share of U.S. corporate publishing customers, and 50% share of U.S. chemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, scientific, and engineering customers.
  • 63% of all multimedia applications development was done on Macintosh in 1994 per Dataquest.
  • Apple was the leading worldwide multimedia personal computer vendor in 1994 per Dataquest, selling more CD-ROM units than any other vendor.
  • 33% of existing multimedia personal computers are Macintosh, per SIMBA Information, Inc.
  • BIS states that Apple is the worldwide market leader in digital camera sales The Apple QuickTake share is greater than the sales of all other digital camera manufacturers combined.

    International Appeal

  • Apple has been named the number one vendor in customer satisfaction for the sixth time by Linea Edp, the major Italian MIS magazine. Apple was voted the leading vendor in the following categories:
  • The Chinese Dictation Kit, Apple's Mandarin Voice recognition software, was awarded Best of Show at Comdex Asia, November 95.
  • The Power Macintosh 7500 was named "Personal Computer of the Year" for 1995 by Politiken, one of the two largest Danish daily newspapers.
  • Apple is the number one U.S. computer vendor and the number three vendor overall in Japan with 14 to 15% share per IDC and Dataquest.
  • In the fourth calendar quarter of 1995, Apple's unit shipments in Japan increased 50% over the previous quarter.
  • Macintosh software sales accounted for 18% of the Japanese market in Q2 1995, up from 13% in the same quarter in 1994, per the Software Publishers Association.
  • In July of 1995, over 750 developers attended the Japan Developers Conference. Thirty percent were first-time attendees.
  • Apple is the most used personal computer brand overall in Australia, per IDC and is the number one brand in Australian business, education, and consumer markets.
  • Apple was the number one vendor in the Canadian education market in 1994, with 32.5% share, per IDC. Apple was the number one vendor in the Canadian consumer market in 1994 and through the first half of 1995, per AC Nielsen Marketing Research. Apple's unit growth in Canada through the first half of 1995 was double the overall Canadian market growth.

    Technology

  • Apple continues to lead the way in technological innovation. According to the 1/29/96 issue of Information Week, Apple Computer was awarded 53 U.S. software patents in 1995, more than any other vendor.
  • The Apple Power Macintosh 7500 and 8500 received BYTE Magazine's 1995 Editors' Choice Awards of Excellence.
  • InfoWorld named OpenDoc the winner of the 1995 Landmark Technology Award, given to the most significant original idea or advance in a current technology each year.
  • Apple received two of the seven "Demo God" awards given at P.C. Letter's Demo '96 for its demonstrations of Copland, Newton, Pippin, Cyberdog, the Chinese Dictation Kit, and the MacOS running on an IBM PowerPC Platform box.
  • The Software Publishers Association has selected three Apple products as finalists for the 1996 Excellence in Software Awards:
  • Apple's Newton Operating System 2.0 won Byte Magazine's "Best of Comdex-Fall'95" award in the operating system category.
  • The Macintosh Performa 5215CD system was awarded the 1995 "Mac System of the Year Award" from MacUser Magazine.
  • January 1996 MacWorld World Class awards were granted to Apple and Claris in the following categories:
  • The Power Macintosh 8500 was named "Best Desktop System" in 1995 by Ziff-Davis's United Kingdom PC Magazine.
  • QuickDraw 3D was named 1995 "Breakthrough Technology of the Year" by MacUse Magazine.
  • Apple's Color LaserWriter 12/600 PS and ColorSync 2.0 received 1995 IMPACT awards from Publish Magazine for advancing the future of desktop publishing.
  • The Color LaserWriter 12/600 PS also received the first place Computer Graphics World 1995 Editors' Choice award in the Hard Copy Output category .
  • Apple's QuickTime VR was the first place winner of the 1995 Computer Graphic World's Technology Award.
  • Apple has made a very successful transition to RISC architecture. PowerPC 601, 603, 604 are now implemented across most product lines, including PowerBooks.
  • Apple has transitioned Power Macintosh to industry standard PCI bus architecture, which means lower card costs for customers, and a more open platform for developers
  • Apple's price/performance equation is good across all lines, and excellent a the low end. Targets for pricing comparisons are the leaders in the major markets, not second or third tier clones.
  • Apple is the first vendor to use Canon's revolutionary new color engine, included in the high-end Color LaserWriter. Major customers (e.g. Kinko's) have endorsed this technology over rival H-P and Tectronics color printers that cost more and provide lower color quality.
  • Apple is the first vendor to market with a self-calibrating color monitor (1 inch). This is due to Apple's ability to tune hardware, software and external technologies for best of breed solutions.
  • ColorSync 2.0 from Apple is a major differentiating factor in publishing. This forms the basis on the monitor's 'true color' capabilities.
  • Apple is the first and only digital camera manufacturer to offer a 24-bit color still-image digital camera with a street price of below $700.
  • Apple expects to have Copland in the hands of customers by mid-1996.
  • With WorldScript technology built into the Mac OS, Macintosh is the world's best multilingual computer, now available in 44 language versions.
  • Apple continues to provide outstanding leading edge technologies, such as QuickDraw 3D, QuickTime Conferencing, QuickTime VR, and QuickDraw GX.
  • Apple's OpenTransport, implemented in System 7.5.2, allows Macintosh systems to fit in seamlessly to mixed computing environments by providing universal client access to LAN services and with protocol and physical layer independence
  • Apple is the only personal computer company with systems that run both Mac and Windows applications.

    Developer Commitment

  • Attendance at Apple's developer conference in May 1995 was higher than ever.
  • There are thousands of Mac applications on the market today, including approximately 1200 native Power Macintosh applications, and 500 Mac-only applications.
  • Third-party illustration and image-editing software sales for the first half of 1995 were $87.3 million for the Mac platform, compared to $79.5 million for the Windows platform, according to the SPA..
  • A recent IDC study indicates that on average, the cost to develop and support Wintel applications is 50% higher per dollar of revenue than the cost to develop for Macintosh. The same study indicates that software marketing costs are 13.5% of revenues for Mac applications and 26.3% of revenues for Wintel applications. The study says that Macs generate almost 75% more software revenue per machine than Windows machines.

    Apple on the 'Net

  • Macintosh is the number one Web authoring platform. According to Chicago-based consulting firm Mirai, 41 percent of the 550 Webmasters it surveyed created graphics for their World-Wide Web site using Macs.
  • Apple's share of Internet client and server stations is twice as high as our general market share. Internet access is becoming an increasingly strong motivator for personal computer purchase. Over 47% of U.S. home PCs have modems.
  • The Mac OS is the second most popular OS platform for World Wide Web servers according to a Georgia Institute of Technology survey. More than 20 percent of the servers on the Web are Macintosh systems.
  • META Group reported in December 1995 that 25% of all Web browsing is done from a Macintosh.
  • Apple's Web site was named "Best Commercial Site" in the large company category in Science and Engineering Network News's "Best of the Net" contest in its March 1996 issue.
  • Interactive Age Magazine's Webmasters Advisory Board named Apple's home page as one of the most effective corporate sites on the Internet.
  • Apple's Internet Connection Kit allows easy Internet access with the click of a mouse.

    Installed Base/Customers

  • Apple leads the industry in overall customer satisfaction for desktop personal computers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 1995 Desktop Personal Computer End-User Satisfaction Study. Apple scored the highest in the industry for vendor reputation, upgradability, connectivity, set-up/documentation and display.
  • An October 1995 study of technical support costs in business environments by Gartner Group Consulting Services indicates there is no cost penalty for maintaining dual personal computer platform environments. Moreover, the study indicates that the higher the percentage of Macintosh in a given Mac/Windows environment, the lower the overall support costs. Support costs for Macintosh are approximately 25% lower than those for Windows.
  • The January 8th issue of Government Computer News printed the results of a product preference survey on desktop operating systems that they mailed to 4,000 of their readers. Readers rated seven operating systems on various criteria. Apple's System 7.5 was rated first in nine of eleven categories:
  • Macintosh requires less customer support than any other personal computer, based on a 1995 Dataquest study.
  • Apple has shipped over 22 million Macintosh systems.
  • CI Infocorp study suggests that Macintosh brand loyalty is the highest in th industry. 90% of Macintosh customers buy Macs again when making a second purchase.
  • A December 1995 PC World study ranked Apple the #1 personal computer vendor for reliability and service.

    1995 Industrial Design Awards

  • PowerBook 500 Series - ID Magazine Award, Silver Award - IDEA/Business Week Awards, '95 Design Innovation Award, '95 SMAU Prize (Italy), JIPDO Good Design Award (Japan), Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award
  • Quicktake 100 - Best of Category, Industie Forum (Germany)
  • Newton MessagePad 110 - '95 Design Innovation Award
  • Apple Design Powered Speakers 1 - Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award
  • Apple Design Powered Speakers 2 - ID Magazine Award, Best of Category, Industie Forum (Germany)
  • Quadra 605 - Best of Category, Industie Forum (Germany), Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award
  • Performa 5200 - Top Ten Design of the Year, Industie Forum (Germany), Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award
  • Color Stylewriter 2400 - Silver Award - IDEA/Business Week Awards, Best of Category, Industie Forum (Germany)
  • Shared Conceptual Model Process (Research exploration) - Best of Category - ID Magazine, Gold Award - IDEA/Business Week Awards
  • Personal LaserWriter 320 - Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award
  • Performa 630, Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award
  • Audiovision 14" Display - Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award
  • Adjustable Keyboard - Chicago Athenaeum 1995 Good Design Award.
    Return