Economics
The document presents a comparison of the Microsoft Personal Computers (PCs) and Apple Macintosh computers. The document provides reasoning and justifications to persuade the readers to agree that the Microsoft PCs are better than Apple in terms of the market analysis, market economy, cost, and price discrimination. However, the technical comparison (in terms of usability, security, price, operating system, etc.) of the Microsoft Personal Computers with Apple Macintosh Computers is always crucial to present market economics. It is pertinent to specify here that the scope of this document is limited to the comparison of both products in terms of production, distribution, consumption and provision of services to the users.
The Mac and Windows are the operating systems developed to be deployed on the computers by the Apple and Microsoft. Each of the operating systems (Mac and Windows) has its own strengths, weaknesses, advantages and disadvantages. Keeping in view the analysis and easiness, the users procure and use the systems to fulfill their requirements. The more users purchase the Microsoft operating system; the Microsoft would have the most market share comparatively. The purchase of an operating system is based on the requirements of the users including the security, ease of use, entertainment, software and system applications, rivers, upgrades and above all the usability of the operating system.
As per the survey conducted in the year 2015, the market share of the Microsoft Operating system for the Personal Computers is 91.45 %, whereas, the Apple has only 7.30 % market share. However, the scenario of the market share changes tremendously when the operating system for the tablets and smartphones is considered. In this case, the market share of the Apple operating system is 61 %, whereas, the Microsoft Windows operating system has only 1% market share. Therefore, it is quite hard to maintain this market share for the Microsoft operating system, as the tablets, smartphones and PDAs are penetrating in the market having diverse easy to use operating systems include, the Android, Symbian, Java ME and Blackberry. However, as the scope of the document is limited to the operating system for the personal computers only, therefore, it can be stated that the Microsoft operating system has huge lead over the Apple Macintosh in the market share. The upcoming section of the document presents the reasons for why the Microsoft operating system is better than the Apple. The following chart presents the market share of the operating system Microsoft Windows, Macintosh Apple and Linux (NetMarketShare, 2015).
Total Market Share – Microsoft and Apple Operating System for PCs
The following chart provides a comparison of the revenue of the Apple and Microsoft for the last nine (9) years (extreme left is the year 2006 and extreme right is the year 2014). It is clearly presented in the chart that the revenue of the Microsoft operating system is much higher than the revenue of the Apple operating system. It is pertinent to specify that the comparison is made for the operating systems of the computers, whereas, the operating system for the tablets and smartphones is not included in the comparison (Zaky, 2014). From the chart, it is clear that the minimum revenue of the Apple was $4,000 million in the year 2006, whereas, the maximum revenue of the Microsoft was $17,000 million in the year 2014. This is the second (2nd) evidence and justification that the Microsoft Windows is better than Macintosh Apple.
Revenue Comparison of the Apple and Microsoft from 2006 to 2014
The price of the Microsoft operating system is much lower than the price of the Macintosh Apple operating system. In comparison to a personal computer, the Apple computer is highly expensive along its peripheral devices, upgrades, maintenance and repairs. Moreover, the users can get more incentives by installing and utilizing comparatively more software applications with no or minimum cost for the Microsoft operating system. The price discrimination can be another reason that the Microsoft operating system for the PCs is better than the Apple Macintosh operating system.
One of the major reasons of the Microsoft PCs over Apple Mac is the usability (easy to use for the users). As the Microsoft operating system has an easy to use graphical user interface (GUI) as compare to the Macintosh Apple, therefore, the users can easily use the Microsoft operating system and prefer to purchase the Microsoft (if the Microsoft fulfills the other requirements of the users as well). This I believe is one of the major reasons for the huge market share of the Microsoft operating system over the Apple Macintosh (Finnie, 2009).
Works Cited
Computer Hope. MAC vs PC. 2015. Web. 20 June. 2015
Finnie, S. Mac vs PC cost Analysis: How does it all add up? 2009. Web. 20 June. 2015
Intel. Mac vs. PC Debate. 2015. Web. 20 June. 2015
NetMarketShare. Real Time Web Analytics with No Sampling. 2015. Web. 20 June. 2015
Wright, J. Microsoft versus Apple Computers. n.d. Web. 20 June. 2015
Zaky, A. M. Earnings Preview: Apple to Surpass Microsoft in Revenue. 2014. Web 20 June 2015
