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Kernel Sanders
July 7th, 2006, 07:25 PM
Every American film i've seen (and TV show) for the last few years that has featured a computer, it has ALWAYS been a Mac? More often than not a Mac laptop to be precise.

This begs the question, are Apple computers THAT popular in America? Do the majority of American computer users really have them? Is windows in the minority over there?

Its weird, because in the UK (where i'm from) its a very very rare sight to see anyone using a mac?

Derek Djons
July 7th, 2006, 07:42 PM
Apple hardware and solutions are still in overall minority. Microsoft and universal desktop computers are still number one these days.

But there a factor which has to be explained. Computers, universal as they are can be used for everything. Even for movie-editing and and music production. But Apple hardware combined with Apple software is a better choice if you are in music, video and or graphics.

On a lot of movies / TV shows there's always something going down which could be a reason to use a Mac. That's why they are a lot on TV.

Apple has just become popular with it's iPod. Now, with a generation trying, using & migrating Apple has to prove it's systems.

tageiru
July 7th, 2006, 07:49 PM
Product placement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_placement)

More recently, Apple Computer frequently places its products in films and on television, where they therefore seem much more common than in most real-world offices and homes. Apple has recently stated that it does not pay for product placement, though executives will not say how their products get into movies and onto TV.

aysiu
July 7th, 2006, 07:51 PM
Apple is still the minority. Among the affluent, though, Apple computers are coveted merchandise--whether or not people actually buy them.

I know a lot of people who have the general mentality, "I love the Mac. I'd love to get one. They're just too expensive." And then they get a Windows PC.

Macs, although low in marketshare, are all the hype. Big Apple stores are in a lot of major cities in the US, and they get a lot of foot traffic (mainly people buying iPods and only marveling at the iMacs and MacBook Pros--not necessarily buying the latter set).

There are probably only a handful of people in the US who have not heard of Apple or seen an Apple computer.

By the way, whether or not Apple actually arranges for the product placement in Hollywood movies--they certainly reap the benefits. Threads like this one are exactly the sort of reaction Apple would hope for.

Oh, and a few more things:
1. Any hospital in a major city in the US would have a lot of doctors of Asian descent.
2. Scientists are not always good-looking.
3. People don't take buses in LA... and the few buses that are in LA would not be able to sustain for very long a speed of 50 MPH or above.
4. There's no computer program that can magically add (within seconds) resolution to a security camera image so that you can see someone in the reflection of someone else's eyeball.

Iandefor
July 7th, 2006, 08:21 PM
Every American film i've seen (and TV show) for the last few years that has featured a computer, it has ALWAYS been a Mac? More often than not a Mac laptop to be precise.

This begs the question, are Apple computers THAT popular in America? Do the majority of American computer users really have them? Is windows in the minority over there?

Its weird, because in the UK (where i'm from) its a very very rare sight to see anyone using a mac? I see Apples pretty often, but they're mostly in the hands of well-dressed college students. Apples are, by far, in the minority.

aysiu
July 7th, 2006, 08:26 PM
Well, let's see, anecdotally speaking...

My parents and my in-laws all use Windows.

My brother is forced to use Mac at work, but he made a special request to his employer to get him a Windows PC as well. He uses a Windows PC at home.

Almost all of my friends and co-workers use Windows PCs. At one time, my boss was thinking of getting a Mac, but then she thought of all the $1000's worth of Windows-only software she and her husband had bought already.

I think the only Mac users I know are one college buddy (who teaches and her school required Macs, so she also got one for home) and my wife and her fellow graphic design friends.

Now that I'm typing this out, I'm realizing--work/school is a big thing. Even I hate the fact that I have to use Windows at work when I'm using Ubuntu at home. It's not a file compatibility thing. I'm not sure what it is--just consistency of interface...?

Kernel Sanders
July 7th, 2006, 08:28 PM
Apple is still the minority. Among the affluent, though, Apple computers are coveted merchandise--whether or not people actually buy them.

I know a lot of people who have the general mentality, "I love the Mac. I'd love to get one. They're just too expensive." And then they get a Windows PC.

Macs, although low in marketshare, are all the hype. Big Apple stores are in a lot of major cities in the US, and they get a lot of foot traffic (mainly people buying iPods and only marveling at the iMacs and MacBook Pros--not necessarily buying the latter set).

There are probably only a handful of people in the US who have not heard of Apple or seen an Apple computer.

By the way, whether or not Apple actually arranges for the product placement in Hollywood movies--they certainly reap the benefits. Threads like this one are exactly the sort of reaction Apple would hope for.

Oh, and a few more things:
1. Any hospital in a major city in the US would have a lot of doctors of Asian descent.
2. Scientists are not always good-looking.
3. People don't take buses in LA... and the few buses that are in LA would not be able to sustain for very long a speed of 50 MPH or above.
4. There's no computer program that can magically add (within seconds) resolution to a security camera image so that you can see someone in the reflection of someone else's eyeball.


:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Thanks aysiu, and to everyone else who responded :KS

Dragonbite
July 7th, 2006, 08:31 PM
A number of creative types (the ones working on films, tv shows, etc.) use Macs, so they're going to push what they think of as "cool".

We need to get Ubuntu into the hands of these types so every computer on these shows are running Ubuntu ;)

Hollywood here we come!8)

aysiu
July 7th, 2006, 08:35 PM
By the way, these are all the Apple Store locations. As you can see, the vast majority are in the US (Apple's home country):


Chandler, Chandler Fashion Center
Phoenix, Biltmore

Tucson, La Encantada


Brea, Brea Mall
Burlingame, Burlingame

Corte Madera, Corte Madera
Costa Mesa, South Coast Plaza
Emeryville, Bay Street
Glendale, Glendale Galleria

Irvine, Irvine Spectrum Center
Los Angeles, Century City
Los Angeles, The Grove
Los Angeles, Beverly Center

Manhattan Beach, Manhattan Village
Mission Viejo, Mission Viejo
Newport Beach, Fashion Island
Northridge, Northridge

Palo Alto, Palo Alto
Palo Alto, Stanford Shopping Center
Pasadena, Pasadena
Pleasanton, Stoneridge Mall

Rancho Cucamonga, Victoria Gardens
Sacramento, Arden Fair
San Diego, Fashion Valley
San Diego, UTC

San Francisco, San Francisco
San Francisco, Stonestown
San Jose, Oakridge
Santa Clara, Valley Fair

Santa Monica, Third Street Promenade
Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa Plaza
Sherman Oaks, Sherman Oaks
Simi Valley, Simi Valley

Thousand Oaks, The Oaks
Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek


Broomfield, FlatIron Crossing

Denver, Cherry Creek
Littleton, Aspen Grove


Danbury, Danbury Fair Mall

Farmington, Westfarms
Stamford, Stamford




Newark, Christiana Mall



Aventura, Aventura
Boca Raton, Boca Raton
Jacksonville, St. Johns Town Center

Miami, The Falls
Orlando, Florida Mall
Orlando, Millenia
Palm Beach Gardens, The Gardens Mall

Tampa, International Plaza
Wellington, Wellington Green


Alpharetta, North Point

Atlanta, Lenox Square
Atlanta, Perimeter


Honolulu, Ala Moana



Chicago, North Michigan Avenue
Northbrook, Northbrook
Oak Brook, Oakbrook

Schaumburg, Woodfield
Skokie, Old Orchard


Indianapolis, Keystone



West Des Moines, Jordan Creek


Annapolis, Annapolis

Bethesda, Bethesda Row
Bethesda, Montgomery Mall
Towson, Towson Town Center



Braintree, South Shore
Burlington, Burlington
Cambridge, CambridgeSide

Chestnut Hill, Chestnut Hill
Hingham, Derby Street
Peabody, Northshore



Grand Rapids, Woodland
Novi, Twelve Oaks
Troy, Somerset



Bloomington, Mall of America
Minnetonka, Ridgedale
Edina, Southdale

Roseville, Rosedale


Des Peres, West County
Kansas City, Country Club Plaza

St. Louis, St. Louis Galleria


Las Vegas, Fashion Show
Reno, Summit Sierra



Salem, Rockingham Park


Bridgewater, Bridgewater

Edison, Menlo Park
Freehold, Freehold Raceway Mall
Marlton, Sagemore
Paramus, Garden State Plaza

Rockaway, Rockaway
Short Hills, Short Hills
Woodcliff Lake, Tice&#146



Albany, Crossgates
Buffalo, Walden Galleria
Garden City, Roosevelt Field

Huntington Station, Walt Whitman
New York City, Fifth Avenue
New York City, SoHo
Staten Island, Staten Island

Syracuse, Carousel
Victor, Eastview
West Nyack, Palisades
White Plains, The Westchester



Charlotte, SouthPark
Durham, Southpoint
Raleigh, Crabtree Valley Mall



Cincinnati, Kenwood Towne Centre
Columbus, Easton Town Center
Lyndhurst, Legacy Village



Oklahoma City, Penn Square


Portland, Pioneer Place

Tigard, Washington Square
Tualatin, Bridgeport Village


Ardmore, Suburban Square

King of Prussia, King of Prussia
Pittsburgh, Shadyside
Pittsburgh, South Hills Village



Germantown, Saddle Creek
Knoxville, West Town Mall
Nashville, Green Hills



Austin, Barton Creek
Dallas, NorthPark Center
Highland Park, Knox Street

Houston, Houston Galleria
Houston, Memorial City
Plano, Willow Bend
San Antonio, La Cantera

Southlake Town Square, Southlake
The Woodlands, The Woodlands


Salt Lake City, The Gateway



Arlington, Clarendon
Arlington, Pentagon City
McLean, Tysons Corner

Richmond, Short Pump Town Center


Bellevue Square, Bellevue Square
Lynnwood, Alderwood Mall

Seattle, University Village
Tukwila, Southcenter


Wauwatosa, Mayfair


Toronto, Yorkdale
Aichi, Nagoya Sakae
Fukuoka, Fukuoka Tenjin
Osaka, Shinsaibashi

Sendai, Sendai Ichibancho
Shibuya, Shibuya
Tokyo, Ginza
Birmingham, Bullring
Kent, Bluewater
London, Brent Cross

London, Regent Street
Manchester, Trafford Centre
Sheffield, Meadowhall

graigsmith
July 7th, 2006, 08:35 PM
apple probably pays movie people to put their computers in movies. its just a form of advertisement.

Brunellus
July 7th, 2006, 08:39 PM
apple probably pays movie people to put their computers in movies. its just a form of advertisement.
...and we have a winner.

Apple is the king of product placement.

I'm somewhat surprised that Microsoft hasn't also put its hat in the ring and made the studios have their characters use Microsoft OSes on their movie computers. If anything, one might get the impression that all computers in movies ran...oh, I dont' know, Linux with Enlightenment DR17....

kripkenstein
July 7th, 2006, 08:44 PM
It's not clear whether Apple pays for product placement. Perhaps movies and such choose themselves to have Apple hardware, because they think it looks cool (and let's face it, it does).

Of course, perhaps Apple give them free stuff, with a verbal understanding that it will appear on the air... who knows.

GuitarHero
July 7th, 2006, 08:50 PM
I am definatly thinking of getting a mac next time i get a computer. Maybe once rev B Macintel computers come out, rev A apple products always have problems.linux just doesnt have professional imaging and recording progrmas i need.

aysiu
July 7th, 2006, 08:50 PM
According to these articles, it would appear to be closer to the second thing--they think it's cool. And Apple does not pay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401670.html
http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/apples-product-placement/

Brunellus
July 7th, 2006, 09:02 PM
According to these articles, it would appear to be closer to the second thing--they think it's cool. And Apple does not pay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401670.html
http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/apples-product-placement/
Interesting links, aysiu.

aysiu
July 7th, 2006, 09:11 PM
Some quotations for the click-lazy:
So how is it that a company such as Apple can get away with this sort of exposure? According to founding partner and CEO of Propaganda Global Entertainment Marketing, Ruben Igielko-Herrlich, it’s because the iPod “never paid for placement because Apple is cool”. He also goes on to the state “if you’re a cool brand or an affluent, prestigious brand, it’s not going to cost you what it’s going to cost fast-moving consumer products like soft drinks or detergents. When you have that kind of image and aura, you don’t pay for it.
Apple said it does not pay for product placement and would not discuss how its products make their way into television and films.

But Apple was one of the first technology companies to hire someone in Los Angeles to get Mac products prominently displayed in hot TV shows and movies, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies, a high-tech research and consulting firm. Today, he said, all such companies -- Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba -- have strategic Hollywood initiatives, following Apple's precedent.

"It's not an accident," Bajarin said. "This is something Apple works at. Apple has the longest history of doing this."

Brunellus
July 7th, 2006, 09:37 PM
In other words, Apple "lobby" creative types to feature Apple products in films and TV shows. Not an outright BRIBE, no quid-pro-quo, but very active lobbying.

bruce89
July 7th, 2006, 09:44 PM
This sort of reminds me of this - http://mysterion.org/~danw/blog/2006/06/baleeted

fuscia
July 7th, 2006, 09:56 PM
most actors are space cadets and are drawn to the lala appeal of macs.

Brunellus
July 7th, 2006, 09:57 PM
most actors are space cadets and are drawn to the lala appeal of macs.
Stylish people with lots of disposable income? Archetypical Macolytes.

ArizonaKid
July 7th, 2006, 10:09 PM
Wired Article (http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,50441,00.html)

From other articles I read, it is mostly the directors / producers / writers, etc... who influence the use of Macs in movies/TV.

In fact John Dvorak has written many articles that slam media outlets , especially the New York Times, for being bias toward Macs. And so far John seems accurate, he stated he intentionally baits the Mac community to drive up attention for himself. The scary thing is it works.

Seems like Apple fans respond like Scientologist.

However, the Mac market in America is still very small regardless of the attention they get in the media.

bruce89
July 7th, 2006, 10:10 PM
Even the BBC are doing it - http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/technology/5150508.stm

GuitarHero
July 7th, 2006, 10:54 PM
Macs look cooler in movies than some grey or black box with windows on it.


I dont see why mac doesnt release OSX to other systems. Right now they make a lot more on mac hardware, but i think everyone would snatch up OSX if they could put it on their cheapo dell.

aysiu
July 7th, 2006, 10:57 PM
I dont see why mac doesnt release OSX to other systems. For a few reasons:

1. It would no longer "just work." People would have to install and configure it themselves, just as they do with Ubuntu. Then, you'd see a lot more folks claiming that Mac OS X is "not ready for the desktop."

2. A lot fewer people would buy Macs, since the public perception is that Apple hardware is too expensive. Apple is primarily a hardware (not a software) vendor, so they'd lose out on what little marketshare they had.

3. Some Mac OS X effects would look ugly on certain systems. Apple's image is all about slickness and tight integration. Being able to install Mac OS X on whatever computer you want doesn't guarantee that animation and graphics rendering will look the way Apple designed them to be.

Derek Djons
July 7th, 2006, 11:00 PM
apple probably pays movie people to put their computers in movies. its just a form of advertisement.

This is nothing new. I think Apple also pays people for their Apple-succes story.

Derek Djons
July 7th, 2006, 11:02 PM
For a few reasons:

1. It would no longer "just work." People would have to install and configure it themselves, just as they do with Ubuntu. Then, you'd see a lot more folks claiming that Mac OS X is "not ready for the desktop."

2. A lot fewer people would buy Macs, since the public perception is that Apple hardware is too expensive. Apple is primarily a hardware (not a software) vendor, so they'd lose out on what little marketshare they had.

3. Some Mac OS X effects would look ugly on certain systems. Apple's image is all about slickness and tight integration. Being able to install Mac OS X on whatever computer you want doesn't guarantee that animation and graphics rendering will look the way Apple designed them to be.

You keep amazing me with your knowledge and simplicity :) Perfect chosen, 100% thruth ... no wonder you are a beanie of the month :cool:

Engnome
July 7th, 2006, 11:11 PM
Apple is the king of product placement.


But they are closely followed by Dell, MS doesn't seem to bother... funny thing though in Firewall (a movie starring Harrison Ford) all the computers were windows, it was very obvious as all computers had the same XP logo wallpaper and they were all seen very clearly. The really interesting thing is that alot of those XP computers get hacked in that movie :D:D:D:D even the heroes own gets hacked TWICE!

drizek
July 8th, 2006, 01:30 AM
I watched "Meet the Fockers" a couple days ago and it was terrible.

In the scene where de niro is teaching the kid his hand signals, he has an L shaped desk with TWO iMacs, one on each end.

The worst one though was when one of the people wanted to go look something up on the internet. He goes over to his powerbook, sits down, pushes a random key on the keyboard, and safari opens up with the webpage he wanted. Not only that, they showed the genie effect in all its glory.

bruce89
July 8th, 2006, 01:47 AM
The worst one though was when one of the people wanted to go look something up on the internet. He goes over to his powerbook, sits down, pushes a random key on the keyboard, and safari opens up with the webpage he wanted. Not only that, they showed the genie effect in all its glory.
I doubt that even MacOS X can read peoples minds like that!

darkhatter
July 8th, 2006, 03:07 AM
Product placement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_placement)

that is the one and only reason why they're computers are there