Essay About Market Apple And Personal Computers

Mac Vs Pc
Mac Vs Pc
MAC vs PC
As if it isnt hard enough to chose between the multitudes of available Windows based
personal computers on the market Apple shows up off the sidelines with its new and
innovative line up of MAC computers. In an attempt to take over or regain back some the
market share that they once held Apple started its witty and entertaining campaign of TV
commercial Get a MAC. As Im sure everyone has seen; the MAC and the PC are portrayed by
Justin Long and John Hodgman respectively as they act out the witty roles of the two rival
computers. The Mac is portrayed as a laid back and more casual character while the PC is a
formal stuffy character that shows frustration at the MACs care free demeanor. Picking out
the flaws in the previous Windows Vista the two characters take part in everyday scenarios
where the PC struggles while the MAC does it with ease. Have these ads generated new
interest in Apples MAC? I for one enjoy MACs advertising campaign against PC I find it
humorous and tactfull but is it enough to uproot loyal PC users? Time will tell.
This is not the first time that we have seen Apple use the television as a media for
advertisement. From the beginning of MAC Apple has used bold ads in both TV and printed
media for advertising. In 1984 Apple produced an iconic TV commercial at the launch of its
new GUI based personal computer the Macintosh; 1984 produced by Ridley Scott at the cost
of $1.5 million the commercial alluded to the George Orwell novel Nineteen eighty-Four.
An unnamed heroine represented the coming of Macintosh as a means of saving civilization
from IBMs attempt to dominate the computer industry, the atmosphere of the commercial
was dark and hinted of a time where we where ruled by a televised “Big Brother”.
Earlier in 1983 Jeff Raskin the designer of Apples new GUI (Graphical User Interface)
computer named the new personal computer after his favorite apple the McIntosh changing
the spelling to Macintosh. One year later in January of 1984 two days after the first airing of
the new commercial 1984 during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII; the new Macintosh
128k went on sale at a price tag of $1995. In November 1984 Apple bought all 39 advertising
pages of a special post election NewsWeek at the cost of $2.5 million. And if that wasnt
enough Apple advertised a “Test Drive a Macintosh” where potential buyers with a credit
card could take home a Macintosh for 24hrs and return it to the dealer afterward. 200,000
people participated but at the cost of Apple many units where brought back in such bad
condition that they could not be resold. This misfortune cost Apple so much that they had to
raise the price of the Macintosh from $1995 to $2495 which is the equivalent to $5200 in 2010
after adjusting for inflation.
Later in 1985 Microsoft released its version of Apples GUI system dubbed the “interface
manager” in their new Microsoft Windows 1.0. From that point forward the two rival
companies have been battling and at one point Apple sued Microsoft and Hewlett Packard on
the grounds of copyright infringement of the Apple GUI system but the case was later ruled
against Apple as was the later appeals.
So from the beginning the battle raged between Apple and Microsoft and 25 years later the
two kids are still at it with the ever so popular TV commercial campaigns Get a Mac and