As Mac users veer ever more closely to the official roll out of Mac OS X on March 24, the question of whether it’s worth the upgrade will be on the mind of Mac users. Washington Post columnist Rob Pegoraro has begun with his thoughts on the pros, cons and marketing hype that is about to hit the public.
A “proportionate dose of hype,” as he puts it, is on the way from Apple as well as Microsoft Corp. as it cajoles millions to upgrade to the latest and greatest OS X or Windows XP.
“Upgrading to Windows XP or Mac OS X will make your computing experience smarter, faster and smoother, or so the pitch will go,” he writes. “Should the marketing pitch pay off, the folks in Redmond, Wash., and Cupertino, Calif., will be rewarded by having a small percentage of their users upgrade over the next year — if they’re astoundingly lucky, perhaps 20 percent.”
Pegoraro writes that despite the hype, “most users take their time to upgrade,” and that marketing efforts will go largely unheeded by the majority of potential buyers.
“I think the vast majority will buy a new computer and upgrade at that time,” IDC researcher Al Gillen told the Post. “Typically, we find that upgrade rates for these products are not that high. Often you’re looking at single-digit kinds of percentages.”
Pegoraro recommends Mac users be cautious in upgrading immediately. “If you’re a Mac user, you should also think carefully about buying the first version of OS X to ship,” he writes. “Even Apple isn’t planning to make the new system its standard install on Macs until this summer, when it expects more programs to be available in OS X editions.”
As for Apple’s plans for OS X marketing? “We don’t market our marketing,” a spokeswoman told the Post.