Apple, Intel, Microsoft look into sync bug
There are apparently problems between Apple’s iTunes and either Windows 7 or a certain processor from Intel (or both), according to reports from users who have experienced iPhone sync failures.
There are apparently problems between Apple’s iTunes and either Windows 7 or a certain processor from Intel (or both), according to reports from users who have experienced iPhone sync failures.
Geez Louise this has gotta sting and more than a little. To date, two of the more prominent Web metrics firms have pegged Microsoft’s operating system launch somewhere between good for Apple and the Mac, to better than Vista. So much for a holiday home run for Redmond this Christmas shopping season.
The good news for Microsoft over the last week or so is that Windows 7 has seen its share of Web traffic rise by nearly three-quarters from just under 2 percent to around 3.5 percent. The bad news is that the company, at least by this same overall measure, is still losing market share to Apple and its category defining Mac OS X.
Forget Dell and Google, the only company standing between the Cupertino, California-based Mac, iPod and iPhone maker and the top tech company valuation is Microsoft. Steve Jobs’ fortunes and those of his company have skyrocketed over the last year, whereas the rest of the industry, including Redmond, have declined.
And they went ahead and did it anyway. At least three hours after new product hit the streets on Tuesday morning, the company has — better late than never — released updated iMacs, MacBooks, Mac minis (including a server edition, baby!) and a multi-touch mouse.
The world beyond the 1 Infinite Loop woke this morning with visions of ultra-thin iMacs dancing in their heads, but Apple has left us guessing once again. Thereupon, with Microsoft to set begin its Vista SP4 Windows 7 assault, Steve Jobs and his merry band of deviants have already disrupted Redmond’s best laid plans by doing nothing.
Of course the Windows fan boys will whimper and whinge that one or another aspect of these tests aren’t “fair” or otherwise inaccurate. Nevertheless, this is just the latest in a string of many comparisons, going back over four or five years that show the Mac is just plain faster, better and longer lasting.
The world is all abuzz with hype about the upcoming release of Windows 7 and some pundits have even gone so far as to predict that Redmond’s “new” operating system will help it claw back market share gains made by Apple’s OS X over the past few years. If past performance is anything to go by, however, Cupertino’s Mac masters have little to worry about.
Apple’s share of the enterprise market has stalled south of 10 percent and, although worth billions, it probably won’t be growing in any big way any time soon. The villains? Corporate IT departments, of course, which can’t see the dollars for the cents, which is the argument of old — Macs cost too much and are too much trouble.
In pattern of events almost as old as the personal computer itself, a business model perfected by the Cupertino, California-based Mac, iPod and iPhone maker is being “embraced” by the company’s old rival in Redmond. As always, the software giant is blatantly ripping off cribbing quite liberally from Apple, even going so far as to build “Guru Bars” into its yet to open chain of retail outlets.