Brooklyn's Progress
February/March 2008

BY LAND GRANT

MacWorld 2008 was held on Jan. 14 -18 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif. and proved to be a hybrid creature spawned by the Apple faithful and Mac newbies alike in a riot of high-style technolust. Think wide-eyed business people fingering digital objects of commercial power and entrepreneurial desire.

Steve Jobs, perhaps the world’s most accomplished cyber-salesman, presented another batch of new Apple goodies in his keynote address. These roll-outs were anchored by a very svelte, ultra-light laptop: the Air.

Still, for product announcements, nothing could match last year's MacWorld. Just a year ago, the wild speculation about an Apple cell phone was eclipsed by Mr. Jobs’ actual intro of the stunning and revolutionary iPhone. Because of the iPhone, the cell phone industry is now in the midst of a revolution of its own. The iPhone impact means wireless hand-held computers will eventually nestle in the pocket or purse of every savvy small businessperson in Brooklyn.

What's next from Apple? Perhaps something as prosaic - and important - as the continued inroads into the PC market. According to AppleInsider.com, “…two research firms have Apple shipping between 1.04 and 1.05 million Macs in the U.S. for the last three months of the past year, resulting in a fourth-place spot [and 6% of the U.S. marketplace] for the computer maker."

Reporting on the best quarter in the company’s 32 years, Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer proclaimed that “the Macintosh business is on fire” to analysts in a teleconference call on Jan. 22. What’s really indicative of growing market clout is that more than half of Mac sales in Apple’s 204 stores were to customers new to the brand, mostly converts from the PC.

When it comes to small business, according to a June 2007 study from Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc., Apple’s year-over-year penetration across small and medium-sized businesses has jumped over 100% for desktop PCs and notebooks.

Why this surge in Macs? The answer is simple: value.

From the point of view of its legions of fans, growing in number among them small businesses, Apple’s Macintosh computer line is user friendly, provides media-rich solutions, integrates its applications seamlessly, does not suffer from any significant virus threat and sports a robust, feature-filled operating system. In addition to enhancing software options, Macs come loaded with free, integrated productivity software that simply does not exist in the PC world. Finally - when lifetime expense, training, operation, maintenance and total cost of ownership is factored in - Macs are proving to be the most cost-effective computers for the small business marketplace.

Recent population statistics assert that 60,000 college-educated people between the ages of 20 and 24 moved into New York City between 2005 and 2006. It is highly likely that a large number of those immigrants moved to Brooklyn: considered the city's hippest, edgiest and booming borough. Those flogging their creative talents in this age group overwhelmingly employ Macs.

For Brooklyn small businesses involved in creative, style-driven, entrepreneurial and/or home-based enterprises - Apple presents the most compelling and cost-effective system solutions to the very necessary application of information and communication technology to successful commerce. 

Apple's retail stores lower the overall cost to support Macs. They act as walk-in tech support centers with in-store Genius Bars. In addition, many Apple Stores offer free, walk-in, how-to workshops that span the spectrum of Apple products - sometimes all day long.

Apple is the number-one retailer in the U.S. The company actually outsells number two Tiffany's by twice the dollars earned annually per square foot. Persistent and detailed rumors of an Apple store in Brooklyn were swirling more and more thickly at the conference. Like every other Apple Store, it is destined to become an experiential destination and magnet for edge and style among talent-driven and forward-thinking small business owners in the borough. Hurry, Mr. Jobs – Brooklyn is ripe for the picking!