With A Bit Of Focus On The Value-Added Channel, Apple Could Gain Market Share
As CEO, Jobs has pushed Apple to produce some of the best personal computing products on the market at a time when Microsoft's failure to adequately address the security issues surrounding its operating system has opened a huge hole that Apple could quickly fill.
I recently added an iMac G5 to my home wireless network, which already included two WinTel desktops and two notebooks. I could have purchased three WinTel PCs for what I spent on the Macintosh, but I couldn't be happier with the Mac and I couldn't be more frustrated with the PCs.
That's because it requires more time and knowledge to keep spyware and viruses off the WinTel machines than I have to give. Just the other night, I spent nearly three hours running two spyware programs and a virus protection application in an attempt to clean up one of the desktops so that it would at least run at a crippled pace. My effort was frustrating and largely unsuccessful. I finally told my children to spend the next few days backing up their data so that I can wipe the hard drive clean and start from scratch. Consider that this is for a machine on which I run third-party firewall software as well as virus and spyware protection—all of which costs me around $100 per year to keep current.
Windows is too easy to attack, and the third-party virus and spyware programs to protect it are inadequate. I used to run Symantec's virus protection, but just three months after I installed the latest version it mysteriously disappeared and would not let me reload it. Symantec, of course, does not provide free telephone support. Instead, it directs you to an inadequate Web site that fails to answer the right question. After spending an hour maneuvering the Web site in a hunt to find resources to help solve my problem, I gave up. Now I run Panda Antivirus, because I can call someone for free when I have a problem. The thought that a virus-protection software company believes you should pay for phone support when their product fails just doesn't sit well with me.
After my frustrating evening dealing with my children's PC, I walked downstairs to my office and booted up my Macintosh without a single problem, pop-up advertisement, spyware issue or otherwise. But Apple is anything but equipped to capitalize on this fact in either the home or small business. That's because it has done a good job of building products and a horrible job of building a value-added channel.
Apple could be huge in the small-business market, but it needs a channel to get real traction there. The company lost its leadership position in the K-12 education market because it destroyed its channel in that space more than 10 years ago.
Right now, there are so many security issues plaguing WinTel PCs that Apple's secure Panther operating system looks pretty attractive. But at some point Microsoft will fix these security issues, and the price advantage that the PC has over the Macintosh will close Apple's window of opportunity.
To truly gain share and unseat WinTel in some business accounts, Apple needs a value-added channel. It can't tackle that market alone. So far, however, the company has shown no signs of building a larger and stronger indirect-sales channel, preferring instead to concentrate on the consumer electronics space and ignoring the small-business market.
Maybe Jobs doesn't believe Apple can be part of an effective business solution over the long term. Whatever he is thinking, the company is letting a great opportunity slip away.
Make something happen. I can be reached at (516) 562-7812 or via e-mail at [email protected].