"Bigger is better" — or so the myth says. However, there is also a saying that "there is an exception to every rule." AppleMatters recently published an article which explained how and why Apple is it in this case. Consider these excerpts from this article:
- Apple commands about 5 percent of the U.S. computer market share and about 2 percent worldwide. Apple’s small slice provided just that, allowing them to introduce new products to a wide but limited audience, providing real world results and further optimizing future products.
- The word proprietary is often associated with restriction, incompatibility, and unsupported. In the long run, Apple’s use of proprietary systems has not only created revolutions and evolutions, but has proven that proprietary systems can offer a lot for consumers, more than they think.
- Many have criticized Apple because Mac OS X will only run on a Macintosh with most Macs supposedly out of their price range (although whether a Mac is more expensive than a PC could be debunked). And one could argue that quality does not come cheap.
- With OS X running only on the Mac platform, Apple has unique advantages over other manufacturers, including Microsoft. Apple is in control of their hardware and can tailor OS X for full optimization on each machine. Apple also has the opportunity to create simple and seamless transitions no other company would consider.
Source: "Why Apple’s Proprietary System and Small Market Share Are a Good Thing" by Tanner Godarzi, published at AppleMatters.
