Searching for Evidence of the iPod Mystique
| by Joe Leo, Columnist | December 29, 2006 |
continued... from: previous page
At the Apple Store in Emeryville, CA on the evening of Black Friday, we strategically positioned ourselves just outside the front door on the sidewalk leading in to the entrance so that we could take photos and interview customers for our story at the same time.
(After identifying oneself as a reporter on a story and asking for an interview and also permission to take photos, we were told that Apple only responds via their PR department, but were welcome to talk with the customers inside the store, and any photos taken would have to be done from outside).
As we were taking our photos (don't ask what happened the instant we took our first photo... mall security coming out of nowhere and telling us to stop. But we took care of that and told them we had permission), a married couple walking by us parted their ways for the moment, the husband walking into the store while the wife stayed outside and began to take an interest in what we were doing.
We told her that we were doing a story with the holidays as an angle and Apple at the, uh, core.
Naomi Pearce (actual name) from the neighboring city of Albany, gained an interest in the topic and subsequently revealed to us her affiliation with a software company that makes titles for the Mac. Her take on this particular holiday season for Apple? She kindly bared it all for us in a "no bones about it" kind of way.
"This is the first holiday season with a complete line of Intel Macs [available] and the machines are faster than ever before. The potential customer base will be larger than before due to Boot Camp and Parallels," Pearce said.
(Boot Camp being Apple's solution to installing Windows on a partition of your Mac allowing you to boot--thus the name Boot Camp?--into Windows, while "Parallels" does the same thing except in a virtualization mode that lets you run Windows in a window on your screen... both only for Intel Macs).
CNETnews.com reported on 11/28 that, yes, "The much beloved iPod has boosted Apple Computer's Mac sales... How much of the surge can be attributed to the iPod? That depends on your perspective. Market share in PCs has jumped [and] the iPod isn't the only thing goosing Mac sales."
Furthermore, they quote IDC's Doug Bell as saying, "I think the iPod turned many consumers onto the Apple brand, and created something of a halo effect, but nothing drastic. You can also argue that Intel and Boot Camp moves helped them more recently."
Just as Pearce seemed to hint on in her comment to PBCentral.com.
So no parallels between the iPod connection there. Though the windows were soon to be opened when Pearce moved on to the subject of the iPod, commenting that the new iPod shuffle is, "...a no brainer. It's a perfect stocking stuffer for the holidays."
Maybe everyone's stockings were filled with that shuffle, or some type of iPod brought by Santa Steve this holiday, since the iTunes Music Store was down for the count on Christmas Day, as we mentioned in a news article yesterday. [SEE RELATED ARTICLE]
For those people that aren't yet Mac owners--which can be different from users (you can use a Mac at work but not own one at home)--Pearce thinks Apple hopes to reach out to a broader iPod market and get people to come on home to the Mac.
That so-called iPod "halo effect."
