Suggestions! How can Apple better penetrate the PC Market?

arden said:
Awesome idea! You should send it to Apple. I can imagine having an inset picture of a closeup of whatever Apple device the person is using at the time, like show him taking the iPod out of its dock and show a closeup of the iPod as he's doing this in a smaller picture. That would be cool.
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I agree Arden. I think that Volkswagen is doing this in their commercials now. They have something built in that interfaces with the iPod. It would be great if Apple made people more aware if there is some sort of device, for all cars, that we can buy to park and power the iPod for our other car's stereo system. I would suggest that Apple do a deal with the top car stereo provider to create a special "iPod" model that will be widely available - for the rest of us.

More wireless connectivity to other devices in the house, and a seemless way to make it happen seems like a very good idea as well. I would bet that Rendezvous is the means to this ideal. However, Apple probably needs to get device manufacturers to support the standard. That might go for a stereo provider - or perhaps Apple could come up with a deal with a remote control provider that would allow you to park your remote pointed at your home stereo, tv, etc. and then control it from your computer (via WIFI) - or remotely over the Internet. However, that would not let you receive info back wirelessley from the television. I'm sure that is doable too though. Obviously it's doable if you want to deal with a little complexity. The goal is for Apple to make it idiot proof and simple.

Hey, I have no doubt Apple will do a lot more great things - and I'm very optimistic about the company. I look forward to installing Panther.
 
I think that it's pointless to say things like get the speed up since I'm sure Apple will keep doing this as quickly as they can, as will the Intel world. It's also pointless to say that Apple should come out with new and innovative designs since that's what they've always done. I disagree with the people who say that Apple should lower prices and ad more BTO options. I think the prices are fine where they are and I think that too many options will increase cost and decrease stability.

I like the suggestions by others who say that Apple should roll out Airport networks in places like, well, airports. I also think that the idea of Apple working out more deals with companies like Pepsi. Also good are the suggestions about pushing their supported open standards like ZeroConf and MP4.

So what else can Apple do? Obviously they need a really good ad campaign. I think that looking back some of the better commercials they've fielded were the original iMac ones with Jeff Goldblum. They were direct, unambiguous, and they provided real information about the computers simplicity and ease of use. They need to bring this kind of clarity to everything that makes them special. They also need to show everyone using their products, from the common man to big name celebrities. Pay Catherine Zeta-Jones to carry an iBook around with her when she goes out with Michael, etc. Have you all seen the NWA commercial which is practically an Apple commercial? More things like that can't hurt.

Another very important thing they can do is to continue pushing Macs out to schools, businesses and governments. In fact I think this is one of the most important things they can do. When a whole district of students are using Macs Apple has a good argument selling them to the parents for home use. When they can further show that Macs will be a large presence at whatever college the children will attend their argument has brown stronger. And if they can go on to show that the business or governmental agency that will employ the graduates their argument has become rock solid. Talking about penetrating the home pc market is meaningless unless you include making major inroads into other markets. Put a 15" PowerBook on every desk in Congress or Parliament.

They also need to push the digital hub even further. I think that the things we have now are great, but they need more. Work with companies to roll out cheaper and easier to use home automation software/hardware solutions that run on Mac OS X. Work with digital cable and satellite dish tv providers to co-brand set-top boxes and some of the interactive features they provide. Make it even easier for me to put my Mac at the heart of my entire AV setup. Throw some sponsorship behind TechTV and get them talking about something Apple every single episode.

Finally they should selectively bring a few more Mac apps to Windows. In this respect I think iTunes was a great choice, but Safari and iPhoto would not be. The logical candidate in my mind would be iChat AV. It's interactive and having it available to Windows users would get even more Mac users using it (not to mention selling more iSights).

That's all I can think of for right now.
 
gwynarion said:
Finally they should selectively bring a few more Mac apps to Windows. In this respect I think iTunes was a great choice, but Safari and iPhoto would not be. The logical candidate in my mind would be iChat AV. It's interactive and having it available to Windows users would get even more Mac users using it (not to mention selling more iSights).
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Well said, in its entirety. I agree with everything, especially the AV suggestion and the iChat AV suggestion. We operate in a limited universe, so I have very few people I can use the features of iChat AV with - and that is a big drawback to the software's usefulness. I don't know what the technical limitations are, but the practical opportunities are clear.
 
I agree! Porting iChat would be a great thing for apple. It would help with the sale of iSight camaras and establish a good user base, imagine AOL adopting it as part of their software..... watch out MS!
 
I agree with Rubicon statement that MacIntoshs are like Lexus and should be marketed as such.

I would push for flashy ads using a celebrity spokes person demonstrating all the lates eye candy using the biggest display possible. Sort of like Steve Jobs does during his presentations. You got to get people excited about the product then all the other stuff is secondary like price; technical specs etc. If the buying public falls in love with your product and it becomes trendy, they beat a path to your door regardless of the cost.
 
"I would push for flashy ads using a celebrity spokes person demonstrating all the lates eye candy using the biggest display possible."

Very bad idea from beginning to end, commercially speaking.

1) Apple has a tradition of sobriety and elegance, combined with relativie discrecy (is this word English ? noun from adjective 'discreet'). I don't see any 'flashy' ads coming up here.

2) Celebrity spokes are great to convince 30+ aged housewives to buy a new washign machine or a new insurance. They won't be of any effect on students, institutions and research centers. They may even have a counter-effect.

3) Eye candy and biggest display possible: Apple is not advertising superficial GUI tricks, Apple is selling reliable, powerful machines.
 
Interesting idea, except that, conrary to myth, Apple is not priced particularly highly as a luxury brand. The computers, for their capacities, are about the same price for a similarly priced windows version. On top of this, Apple isn't simply an equipment designer and marketer - they have to do R&D on both the boxes and the OS and all the other software, so their costs are much higher than for other computer cos you think of for the same business.

If Apple were to take this strategy, and price the computers as a luxury good with a really high margin, then none of us would have ever had an Apple. And, I doubt that they would still be in business.

However, they do do a great job at marketing and accomplishing exactly this idea, just not by means of pricing themselves out of the market. In fact, I understand that they often make more money on iPods than they do on the lower level computer products.
 
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