Consumers Driving Demand For MACS At Work

(From Business Week -- By Peter Burrows)

Soon after MICHELE GOINS became chief information officer at JUNIPER NETWORKS in February, she decided to respond to the growing chorus of MAC lovers among the networking company's 6,100 employees.
[Roughly the size of ESPN.]

For years, many had used APPLE's computers at home and clamored for them in the office as well.

So she launched a test, letting 600 Juniper staffers use Macs instead of the standard-issue PCs that run MICROSOFT's WINDOWS operating system.

As long as the extra support costs aren't too high, she plans to open the floodgates.

"If we opened it up today, I think 25 percent of our employees would choose Macs," she says.

Funny thing is, she has never received a single sales call from APPLE.

For many companies, moving to the Mac isn't nearly as difficult as it used to be.

Since 2006, Macs have been able to run Windows just like any Intel-based PC.

In addition, Macs can run what's known as "virtualization" software, which lets people use the Mac operating system and Windows at the same time and switch easily between them.

Once an object of devotion for students and artists, the Mac is becoming the first choice of many.

Surging demand for the machines led Apple to predict revenues will rise 33 percent in the second quarter, to $7.2 billion, even in the face of an economic slowdown.

What's less obvious is that the enthusiasm is starting to spill over into the corporate market.

It's a people's revolution, of sorts, with workers increasingly pressing their employers to let them use Macs in the office.

In a survey of 250 diverse companies that has yet to be released, the market research firm YANKEE GROUP found that 87 percent now have at least some Apple computers in their offices, up from 48 percent two years ago.  

Consumers Driving Demand For Macs At Work

Scott O'Leary, thanks for the post.

[Yeah, bring on the Macs baby!]