Architosh Staff (info@architosh.com)

29 Oct 2004

 

Apple Launches New "Architecture" Web Section

Apple Computer has quietly launched a new "Architecture" section in its Small Business section of Apple.com. The Architecture section is the newest companion to older small business sections on Legal, Healthcare and Retail. For years Apple's European operations have had sections on Architecture on those local Apple sites along with various other core small business markets for Apple. In the UK for instance, Apple's SME (small medium enterprises) site focuses on just Accountancy and Architecture specifically.

Architecture at Apple

Many years ago Apple was the dominant computer manufacturer to architecture firms worldwide. Apple's market share in architecture in countries like France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Germany have remained solid over the years but are nowhere near their old highs. It has been estimated that in the early 90's half of all architects in France -- that were computerized -- were on Macintosh computers. Current market share in France is estimated to be between 15 and 20 percent, ahead of where it is in the United States.

Apple's lack of attention to the architecture market in the 90's in the US has accurately reflected its market share declines in the states. However, other factors have contributed to the US market's use of Macintosh in architecture. Chief among these is the dominance of Autodesk's Autocad software in the US and its Windows-only development strategy. Outside the US Autocad doesn't hold as much market influence over the AEC industry. In Europe, Graphisoft's industry-leading building information modeling (BIM) CAD application, ArchiCAD, is a dominant force in many countries. In Japan, Nemetschek North America's VectorWorks is the number one CAD application and has been for many years due to the Macintosh system's ability to handle Asian fonts better than Windows did back in the early years of CAD.

Apple and Architecture Now

The Architecture market is a vibrant and vital market for Apple in much of Europe, Japan and elsewhere. According to previously published reports here at Architosh, some software vendors serving the European market report Mac market share in Architecture to be as high as 40 percent. This compares to US market share that is likely in the mid-teens overall and as high as 25 percent in few particular cities.

Harvard's Graduate School of Design, one of the US's leading colleges of architecture, has consistently had about 25 percent of its class on the Mac. The school's policy is that students bring their own hardware to college and the school provides all the software students are interested in running. This open system suggest -- that at least among the brightest coming into the profession -- that 1 out every 4 architects in the US would naturally opt for the Macintosh platform if given a free choice.

Unfortunately, younger architects are rarely given a choice in the workplace. Firms typically standardize around one dominant CAD system with various supportive visualization and management software. For larger offices that often is Autocad on Windows. However, with the advent of building information modeling (BIM) and Graphisoft's industry lead in that segment of the CAD market, there has been much hope by Mac-based professionals that the US architectural market might begin to migrate back to the Mac platform when the industry firmly puts Autocad behind it. ArchiCAD, as it turns out, was started on the Mac and has remained a native Mac application from the very beginning.

To be sure Apple has been encouraging this agenda through excellent developer support. The actual application pool for the Mac platform in Architecture is actually superior to any period prior to this time. There is an abundance of choices and solutions for architects on the Mac. The bigger issue likely facing Apple now isn't whether there is enough software for architects on the Mac but rather how hard to push on the market given the fact that one particular industry-standard application -- that being Autocad -- isn't on the platform and may likely never be.

Autodesk itself, in addition to many industry analysts, now point the future of architectural CAD in the BIM direction centered on Autodesk's Revit, an application the company acquired a couple of years ago. Revit was originally developed to support multiple operating systems support eventually and there have been many rumors of a native alpha level version for the Mac OS X platform.

Architecture and Power Mac Sales

Architecture, as it turns out, is one of only a handful of sizable markets in the world that meet all of the following criteria for Apple:

• Mac market share percentage substantially higher than overall industry average
• Substantial worldwide market to sell into
• Substantial "downstream" customer pool to sell into
• Substantial amount of leading application choices
• Industry requirements for leading edge power ('workstation class' machines)

In the past Apple sold Power Mac and other "professional" systems into general business environments. These consisted of all types of industries and all sizes of businesses. Very few business environments today require the computing power of today's modern 'workstation' class Power Mac G5 towers. The distinction being made here is important to how Apple is able to position itself for market share growth in various SME environments.

Besides architecture, engineering and science, Apple has historically sold its most powerful systems (Power Macs) into the publishing and graphics market -- a market Apple still dominates but not to the same degree it once did in its heyday. The reality of the market is that today there are fewer market domains that require the performance of Power Mac computers. Architecture is one of the few remaining domains that exist today that require a constant improvement in computing power. Moreover, as the industry moves to BIM (a 3d oriented CAD model) the needs for leading edge performance will accelerate.

Architecture and Power

Architecture as an industry is in the midst of yet again another major disruption to the design building process. Building information modeling (or BIM) is slowly picking up steam to replace 2d CAD (computer-aided design). Unlike CAD, BIM requires all participants -- not just architects and engineers -- to push around three dimensional (3d) data. This is very taxing on computer systems and even the most powerful dual processor systems today cannot quickly push around virtual building models in real time when they are rendered with shadows and lighting and contain all the components that actually go into a building.

As a result of both the process (or workflow) change required of professionals in the architectural industry to adapt to BIM and the demand BIM places on computer systems in terms of speed (and this is compared to 2d based CAD systems) the migration to BIM in the industry is slow going in much the same manner as the original digitization of AEC back in the 80's and 90's. In some way this is surprising because architects today unanimously agree that CAD turned out to be a really good thing for their bottom line. However, what is different about this time around is that architects today continue to reap excellent RIO for 2d based CAD systems given Moore's Law of processor performance.

The computer systems of tomorrow that will drive BIM will continue to be very powerful systems. They will require two processors with dual cores each. They will benefit from 64-bit system architectures and they will benefit immensely from system stability.

Closing Comments

Apple has everything to gain from participating actively in the BIM revolution that is beginning to take place in the AEC market. Led by architects but encouraged greatly by contractors and building owners, BIM promises great levels of efficiency that will never be yielded from CAD alone. And BIM on a UNIX-based and powerful 64-bit system like a Power Mac G5 is an ideal scenario for any architect practicing today. What architects need mostly today and in the future are not just tools but a complete system of digital production that is cost effective, predictable and dependable.

What is critical for Apple to realize as it moves forward with architecture initiatives is that there are early mover advantages in this revolution. Even more important for Apple in particular, is that there are severe late mover disadvantages in this revolution. Let's hope Apple can come to understand this, otherwise, look for Power Mac systems unit shipments to never make much of a comeback unless Apple invents a new power hungry industry altogether.

Architosh Marketplace

MacroEnter. is a CAD/AEC/Design, networking and large format printing solutions integrator, serving business, government and education customers. Reseller of VectorWorks, Microspot, HP and Encad product lines.

CAD Garage. is an online store dedicated to Architects, Engineers, Builders, Designers and Mac enthusiasts featuring ArchiCAD, formZ, Piranesi, Cinema 4D, HP and more product lines.

Lim Consultants, Inc. provides creative architects with practical solutions while incorporating cutting edge technology, pushing the art of structural engineering to new levels of excellence.

Place your text ad here and reach thousands of professionals each month for very affordable prices. (contact: karen@architosh.com)