Market Share

As you're likely aware, Microsoft's Windows desktop operating systems (e.g. Windows XP) enjoy a 95%-97% share of the personal computer (PC) market. That means Apple's Macintosh operating system (e.g. OS X) has approximately 3% of the market (there are also a handful of Linux variants outside of Mac's OS X that get a few points of share). Both operating systems are great and have genuine strengths. Fair enough.

Yesterday, I went with my wife and daughters to a nearby cupcake/coffee shop in Ballard called Cupcake Royale, one of our favorite spots. As with so many cute, hip Seattle coffee shops, the good food, inviting atmosphere, and free wi-fi brings out many of the young hip urbanites who, as near as I can tell, listen to music, surf the web, and/or are working on the next Great American Screenplay on their laptops. (I admit, I envy them, I'd love to sit in a nice shop all day and do the same -- though mine would be the Great American Novel, rather than the screenplay.) What struck me, though, was the dramatic lack of Windows-based PCs in the house. There were three. But there were no fewer than twelve laptops humming around the place, by my quick count. A small sample, to be sure, and not your typical worldwide audience, but that's 75% share for Macs, and 25% share for PCs. When I walked in I thought -- 'boy, you've got to own a Mac to hang out here.' But then I noted the two or three hipsters with their PCs as well.

They're both great OSs, and both can come on great machines. I was just interested that the PCs had such a limited slice of the Seattle coffee shop usage pie.

With Apple's turn to Intel's chipset archtecture, and Microsoft's release of Windows Vista (today), who knows what that market share, in a coffee shop or elsewhere, will look like down the road?