June 2nd, 2000

[12:00 PM] Apple's Web Site Still Drawing Huge Turnout by Staff Since we last reported on Apple's Apple Computer's standings in PC Data's Top 10 Web site rankings, the company has been hammered by Compaq. Though Apple has consistently held the #1 and #2 spot in the Top 10 hardware Web sites for the last several months, Compaq has held onto that top spot for the last 4 weeks. Apple has maintained consistent traffic, but Compaq has seen a boost from their own marketing activities. Since their release of iTools, the Apple site has consistently been in the top 3. This past week again saw nearly 1 million visitors to Apple.com. This week's Top 10 sees two new players, TigerDirect.com and GoogleGear.com, both online retailers. This Week Last Week Hardware % of Total Web Audience Reached Unique Users (000) 1 1 compaq.com 1.6 1,221 2 2 apple.com 1.3 974 3 5 gateway.com 1.1 800 4 3 dell.com 1.0 745 5 4 hp.com 0.9 710 6 6 egghead.com 0.7 544 7 7 ibm.com 0.6 468 8 * tigerdirect.com 0.4 313 9 8 googlegear.com 0.4 291 10 * cannon.com 0.3 211 The Mac Observer Spin: While Apple took initial heat for their announced Internet Strategy, or as some thought, the lack thereof, it is difficult to argue with the numbers. The iReview section has been revamped and keeps growing, while iDisk is still, well, neat. We would like to see Apple add a web-based e-mail service to the iTools site, allowing @mac.com e-mail users to check their mail from a web browser, much like Hotmail. This, we believe, would be a huge boon for both Apple Computer and the legions of Mac users. We expect to see new additions to the iTools lineup this year, perhaps as early as MACWORLD New York. Apple