Apple’s new Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger operating system was a huge smash as it went onsale yesterday — and we’re not lion.
Bill Gates may have the numbers (and bankroll) but, as usual, Apple has the enthusiastic, almost cult-like devotees. Just look at some of these reports.
SAN FRANCISCO–Mac fans let out a collective roar Friday night, with thousands of eager shoppers turning out at Apple stores across the globe to scoop up Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the latest version of Apple’s operating system, as it went on sale at 6 p.m. PST.Among the 200 or so people that lined up for more than a block outside Apple’s downtown San Francisco store was Austin Liu, a freelance Web designer and student. Liu, who admits to being “caught up in the whole “‘Cult of Mac'” said there is something undeniably cool about all things Apple.
“Microsoft could never get a crowd like this,” said Liu. Liu took a swipe at Microsoft, joking that far fewer will show up “when Microsoft finally releases Longhorn or Longtime or whatever it is,” referring to the next version of Windows, due out next year.
Library supervisor A.J. Real turned out with two friends to snag a family pack of Tiger, a $199 version of Tiger that can be used on up to five computers in a household. Single copies of the OS, which features improved searching and other features, sell for $129. Real and friends found themselves about 35 people back in the line, which began forming around 4 p.m.–two hours before Tiger went on sale.
“We got here at 3,” Real said. “Then we got hungry.”
Apple Computer Inc yesterday released the latest version of its Macintosh operating system, OSX 10.4. The company described the software, dubbed “Tiger,” as its most innovative product to date and the safest for local users.
“We have high expectations of Mac OSX Tiger, which we believe will alter user behavior with various new functions that simplify work processes,” Kong Yuk-loong, general manager of Apple Computer’s Taiwan branch, said at a press conference yesterday.
The operating system went on sale at 6pm yesterday, priced at NT$4,390 (US$140.3). One official at Apple Taiwan, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Apple’s Macintosh operating system has been adopted by 23 percent of computer users around the world, but its market share in Taiwan is still less than 10 percent.
Nonetheless, Apple’s market share is increasing steadily, boosted by its best-selling iPod digital music player series, which has swept the local market, he said.
As Daffy Duck would say: “Market share, shmarket share — what does it matter as long as we love it. And it isn’t made by Microsoft!”
Japan Today, in fact, thinks it’ll take away some of Microsoft’s customers:
Apple’s brand new Mac OS X Ver.10.4 Tiger has enough features to lure Windows users away from Microsoft. More than 200 new features include the Spotlight, which lets you instantly search for files, emails, contacts, images, movies, calendars and applications; and the Dashboard, which you can use to check phone numbers, perform calculations and other tasks with one click.
And then there is a masterful marketing strategy, notes USA Today:
To woo customers to pay $129 to upgrade to its new Tiger operating system, Apple Computer (AAPL) is testing an offer that may be a first in computer retailing: free installation or a one-on-one training session with a Macintosh specialist showing personalized tips and tricks.
A Wired News story has a headline that also suggests the new system is highly popular in convalescent homes:”Mac Fans Drooling Over Tiger.”
Well, perhaps we misinterpreted that….
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.