It seems clear that Apple wields influence in the technology market far beyond their market share would indicate that they should. With roughly 5% of the desktop market, they have been the subject of many stories here at Blogcritics (a few of which I will admit I've posted myself), as well as many other magazines and newspapers and so on and so forth. Why is this, and will it continue?
One example of how this works is found in a UK Macworld article discussing the impending release of iTunes for Windows.
Apple's success has boosted the entire market. While [Apple's director of marketing consumer applications Peter] Lowe didn't discuss extending Apple's service to other territories, the impact has already been felt in Europe and the U.K.
Sony Music announced it would begin selling music downloads in the U.K. through the non-Mac friendly OD2 service. Sony was the last major to join the digital distribution market in Europe.
Because it uses digital-rights management technology provided by Microsoft, OD2 does not support Macs, as Microsoft's technology does not.
OD2 Chief Executive Officer Charles Grimsdale however acknowledged Apple's impact on the industry, saying: "Revenues are growing rapidly and there's been a huge amount of activity on our partner sites," he told ZDNet.
"Apple CEO Steve Jobs (news - web sites) is my favorite person right now," he added.
So it isn't just the press. Apple's influence is measurable and widespread.
Robyn Weisman of the Ecommerce Times rounded up a few opinions recently about where Apple will be in five years, given these trends. Polled analysts seem to agree that things are going well for Apple right now and that the future looks bright so long as they stay on track.
Part of this is because of how Apple integrates:
"Look at the graphical user interface, the mouse, the CD-ROM, onboard Ethernet, USB, AirPort wireless networking and so on," [Adam Engst, publisher of Mac community newsletter TidBITS] said. "In each of those cases, Apple took a technology that existed already and by pure force of will made it standard on all Macs.
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