Question to Mac users

[Pablito]

I know there are many Mac users in Singapore.
But I never heard about trainings or courses of Mac's applications, like Numbers. Though PC Excel trainings is quite popular business.
I am thinking about expanding list of my courses and adding Mac's office applications.
Will it be some demand on it?

[littlegreenman]

Maybe. I am a mac user and use pages. I know the functions I need but would like to get a deeper insight. The problem you will encounter though is that the majority of the money you earn comes from corporate clients and they still stick to MS Office on the Mac simply because you don't have compatibility issues. The exporting and importing of MS Office docs in pages and numbers is still problematic and many conversions do not work as they should.

Btw, Apple Stores in the UK, US, Canada... offer free workshops on Mac software (such as pages) where anyone can just come and sit in for free. Not sure whether this is the case in Singapore as I have been out of the country for two years.

[Pablito]

I played a bit with Numbers in computer shop. I liked it. Some fresh ideas.
I didn't find programming language, it is a shortcoming for me, (and hardly an issue for majority of users). I like the way VBA empower Excel worksheets.
Yes, I'll think about adding Pages, KeyNote and Numbers to my courses.
But Apple computer with these programs is quite a pricey thing.
From the other hand it can be a market niche.

[ukdesigner]

I'm a long time Mac User and would not pay for training courses.
I use numbers and far prefer it over excel.

I don't use pages as I use the Adobe Pro stuff and Pages is at not aimed at people like me but more the hobbyist / small business end.

I think the problem you'll have is that Apple software is quite intuitive and because the interface is very slick people are more prepared and actually like playing around on software and experimenting compared to PC users who tend to want it to do a job. That's mainly down to Microsofts interface I think but then again I haven't used windows properly for years and when I do it feels so painful and difficult.

The other thing to consider is that the Mac community globally have quite a bond and there are loads of people on forums who gladly offer advice when you get stuck so I'm not sure if you'd manage to get money out of people. Worth adding it to your portfolio of services and see if it takes and maybe even offer it to the shops as a promo.

If you go down that route you'll need a handout or something BUT remember that Mac users are a different breed to PC users. They expect quality, which is why they pay more for the Mac in comparison to a PC and therefore anything you produce should NOT be done in Word using Comic Sans or Times!!!!!

[Pablito]

Thank you very much for your post.
You know in Russia Mac computers are so rare. That's why I never bumped into this question in Moscow, during years of trainings.
Microsoft office community is not hostile, there are a lot of forums where people eagerly will help with any of your problems.
But average level of knowing Excel is quite low.
And also there are IT educational centers with full rooms of students.
I am just in the beginning of my consulting business, collecting information, studying market.

[tzi]

As far as I know, there are training programs offered to the public by some of the stores selling Apple products n Singapore. Most of these programs are free of charge for their customers.

These stores are normally located along Orchard Road. You can find them out very easily.

[Lil' Stevie]

As far as I know, there are training programs offered to the public by some of the stores selling Apple products n Singapore. Most of these programs are free of charge for their customers.

These stores are normally located along Orchard Road. You can find them out very easily.

I've taken some mac courses at ion orchard basement. You can find them on this website: http://www.epicentreorchard.com/moby/cm ... index.html.

Hope it helps!