In Jakob Nielsen's comments about the Internet userbase exceeding one billion, he says:
The Mac, for example, already matters less than you think. Although it has a prominent role in the U.S., it's hard to refer to a company with single-digit market share as "dominant." In Asia, the Mac is practically nonexistent.I disagree with his assessment. Apple has a noticeable presence and market share in Japan, and at one point, something like 55% of Apple's international sales were from Japan. The only reason why Apple has practically no marketshare in the rest of Asia is because most of Asia (population-wise, that means China and India) can't afford Macs. But with economies modernizing in those countries and as disposable incomes increase, I think there's a very good chance Apple will see significant growth in those markets.
Posted Thu, December 22, 2005 14:53 by Tim Swanson@66.141.179.92
I don't have the article on hand, but I recently ran across a story which mentioned the status symbol cell phones have in some parts of Chinese society. Stating that relatively poor people will spend an entire months salary just to purchase the latest and greatest cell phone sometimes twice a year.
I suppose it's still kinda hard to cram laptop functionality into the form factor of a typical handset : )
Oh, and congrats on the job with Yahoo.
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