Apple nurtures faithful to make its presence felt in jungle of Windows

Despite being the proud owner of a state-of-the-art Apple Powerbook G4 with one gigabyte of memory and a DVD burner, I cannot help but feel like a computing pariah in the nation's capital.

The personal computing landscape in China is so overwhelmingly dominated by computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system that it takes a brave individual indeed to plunk down the premium required to buy into the Mac's supposedly superior user experience.

There is, however, a certain cachet to owning the latest Apple PowerBook model in Beijing. It is the Porsche of laptops, a lean, mean status symbol that screams graphic designer, advertising executive, movie director, Web designer and journalist.

Whip one out in public and you can almost hear the click as people around you mentally slot you into a hip and trendy profession.

Tapping away at a new PowerBook G4 in public is the computing equivalent of holding up a placard or wearing a T-shirt that screams: 'I am a bona fide member of China's digerati.'

While the PowerBook is an attention grabber, ask the vendors at one of Beijing's many computer stores whether they sell Macs and you are promptly dismissed with a wave of the hand and a look that says 'Get with the program loser!'

It is almost as though Apple users have taken a bite out of the forbidden fruit and been banished forever from the garden of Windows.

Estimates of Apple Computer's market share in China go as low as 0.2 per cent. And even though the company's super-cool computers are still the tools of choice for desktop publishing and graphics, Windows-based PCs are slowly eroding that lead on the mainland.

But it is not all doom and gloom for Mac users in the country. There are three Apple Centres in the capital.

Mac neophytes are more than likely to encounter the one owned by Hong Kong's Designer Group and located on the ground floor of Li Ka-shing's Oriental Plaza. So rare is the sight of an Apple store in Beijing that most Mac owners cannot help but take a closer look when they stumble upon one.

Apple lists 17 Apple stores in Beijing on its Web site, which for a city this size is not nearly enough. There are even slimmer pickings in cities such as Shanghai for which three Apple Centres and only four stores are listed.

It is not unusual for die-hard local Mac users to take refuge in various Mac user groups to swap tips and share experiences.

Among the better-known are the Mac Fans User Group and Beijing Macintosh User Group (BeiMac), an international user group that organises events and meetings where the Mac faithful can practise their faith in all things Apple.

BeiMac president Yan Feng feels that the tide may be changing and there may yet be a bountiful harvest for Apple in China.

'There is still a lot of work to be done. but last year was a good year for Apple with lots of roadshows and new stores opening,' he said.

Mr Yan believes, however, that the quantity and quality of companies providing Mac-specific support in China needs to improve.

Despite the fact that Windows' dominance of the market is a foregone conclusion, China is one market that Apple can ill afford to put on the back burner.

Sahr Johnny is a writer and technology journalist based in Beijing.