Earlier today, I had reason to reference an old John Gruber article, Windows: The New Classic, as I have several times since that article first appeared at Daring Fireball back in April 2006. In addition to providing a terrific explanation of why Boot Camp was important, what segment of the market it would appeal to, and why that market segment was precisely the segment that Apple wants as customers, that article also contains the following extraordinary description of just who Mac users are:
Whatever market share number you peg the Mac at — 2 percent, 5 percent, or anywhere in between — you must keep in mind that it (that is, the Mac user base) is not comprised of a random sample of just any 2-5 percent of computer users in general. It’s a very specific self-selecting segment of the market: people who care about their computers, and who are willing to pay more for something better.
This is, sadly, something that few of my colleagues have ever grasped, but that, as they say, is another story.
In the course of locating that quote, I happened upon this nugget, just two paragraphs above the foregoing:
But Boot Camp is inordinately appealing to the higher end of the market, the enthusiasts. Your typical civilian (i.e. non-enthusiast) has no need — or at least sees no need — for dual booting. They use email, they use a web browser, they want something useful to happen when they plug a digital camera into their USB port. Whichever OS comes on their computer is good enough for this.
Email, web, photos. Is it just me or does it seem like there’s a certain very recently introduced tablet device that would more than meet those needs? Sure, the iPad does a lot more than just email, web, and photos, but this puts me in mind of something I guess I haven’t yet considered: there is undoubtedly a significant number of computer users out there who could legitimately consider replacing their home computer — or at least a second home computer — with an iPad! A minority to be sure, but likely a significant minority; I’ll bet the number is higher than you or I would initially imagine.
Understandably, I think of the iPad in terms of my own computer use, and which need(s) of mine it would satisfy (such as the “need to have one” — what? — oh yes, this is a legitimate need). Of course, as a career* software engineer the notion of anything replacing one of my computers — other than a “better, stronger, faster” computer — is foreign to me. But that’s certainly not the case for everyone.
In fact, add user accounts and the ability to sync an iPhone/iPod Touch to the iPad, and an iPad could easily replace my wife’s computer (which is also, conveniently, our kids’ computer, thus the need for user accounts).
