Who Needs Market Share?
No, I didn’t listen in on Apple’s Quarterly Financial Report Conference Call, but the results are impressive.
Most bandied about on the web is that Market Share seems to have increased to 5.9%. Is this necessarily a good thing?
As a semi-registered, semi-GenXer, I’ve made a number of relocations in the last decade. However, it was only during the most recent that I made the jump to a true apartment building. This is the first time I am not sharing a DSL or Cable line with housemates.
During the often laborious work of setting up with Verizon, I discovered the curious Mac-only benefit of not having a big market share.
First, there is the knowledge that I probably didn’t need to use Verizon’s “set-up wizard” cd that came with my DSL modem. But factor in my set-up (two machines in an ancient brick building), and using both Linksys and Apple wireless nodes, and I did have to make a call or two to Verizon.
I dial support, and am asked whether I use Mac or Windows. Blissfully, I answer “Mac” and get help (actual, technical support) from someone who has an Aqua interface in front of them. I probably know more about what I’m working with, but it is so nice to hear someone say “System Preferences” (and not have to translate terms like “control panel” and “properties”). I was once on the phone with Linksys support for 8 hours over two days, having to translate every Windows move.
I have tested the time lag. The three times I had to call (when bringing my work PC home) each took longer than when I’ve had to call and say “Mac.” In a further test, I even took the risky step of allowing my (non-technically minded) parents to call Verizon during a DSL set-up all by themselves. The guy they spoke to even went so far as to tell them that “first of all, you can just throw the Set-up CD away”!
With Apple getting bigger before our eyes, all Mac users (especially from System 7 days) have had to adjust to some new difficulties (iTunes support, anyone?). And this sort of directed help is a rarity, (one credit card company still doesn’t recognize Safari or Firefox; suggests I install Netscape 4.xx). But I have applauded it to Verizon. Now if I could just make sense of the bill.
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