NPD: Apple enjoys huge Mac growth in February
Mac shipments were up dramatically in the fourth quarter of last year, and if recent NPD data is any indication, Apple's doing pretty well again this quarter.
AppleInsider spotted a research note from Pacific Crest Securities citing NPD Group data that Apple's Mac shipments grew 60 percent in February compared with the same period last year, while the entire market grew just 9 percent. NPD's data tracks computer purchases made at U.S. retail stores, which means it excludes much of Dell and all online purchases in general, but it does serve as a weather vane for the PC industry.
Shipments of Macs, like this new MacBook Pro, were up 60 percent in February, according to NPD.
(Credit: Apple)Notebooks were the primary source of Apple's strength, according to the data, with shipments up 64 percent compared with a 20 percent gain for the overall market. But the difference between Apple's desktop shipments and the industry is stark: iMac and Mac Pro shipments were up 55 percent compared with last year, while industry desktop shipments declined 5 percent.
Amid all the economic concern of the past few months, this is good news for Apple, as strong Mac growth might be enough to offset worries about the iPod division. Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray issued a note Monday that Apple's iPod shipments are tracking below expectations right now, meaning if the trends hold Apple would see a year-on-year decline in iPod shipments for the first time in an awfully long time. Munster thinks the iPod Shuffle price cut will have stimulated demand by the time the final numbers are out, but that situation bears watching.
Mac sales grew by 44 percent in the fourth quarter, Apple reported in January. February marked the first full month of availability for the MacBook Air, and Apple added new chips and new trackpad features to the MacBook Pro and MacBook in late February.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
But yes, it also should exclude Apple on-line sales and only
include what they sell from Apple stores and some Best Buys
since these are their only two retail outlets.
Either way... it looks good for Apple and like the other poster,
maybe it might help attract more developers in their court... but
then again... I think the iPhone platform may have already done
that. :-)
won't change theirs either.
But it's good for Mac users in general because more Macs and
higher market share means more web sites, software developers,
and hardware manufacturers will be forced to make their products
OS X compatible if they want to profit from that growing segment.
That's all I care about.
things?
/P
I'm not sure that is the right approach to take. I would prefer a manufacturer to want to produce a product that customers want instead of feeling they were forced to.
Anything that helps the Mac user out is a good thing, but at the cost of forcing OEM's to bow to another group's demands could be questionable.
crowded lately. A couple of years ago, business was brisk, but you
could get around in the store without too much trouble. Nowadays
you kind of need a shoehorn to get in there!
Our family just purchased a pair of Pro laptops to replace a 3400 laptop and G3. And we have money in the bank to pay in full when the plastic bill comes. They hate consumers like us...
duke
atmospheric and exo-atmospheric.
Four people on my team this month switched to Macs. We're still
mostly PC, but when your data architects start going to the Mac
because it is easier, faster, and can use all the same tools....
I'll put it this way; in the past six months, we've gone from two
Mac users on a team of about forty people to ten people using
Macs. Everything we're developing is strictly platform-
independent, but the contingency of having x86 under the hood
for a Windows install (if necessary) is the insurance policy these
developers and managers need to accept the machines.
That's an insurance policy that they probably won't use, if the
rest of us are any indication.
omg. it's so annoying.
posts, when they clearly don't have a funny bone in their body. I
am 100% positive that a national poll would find you more
annoying than a new Macbook Pro.
Hee, Hee.
schtick and the others, as is often the case, are riding on Apple's
coattails.
I'm not gay, but I would like to release some fluid on Steve Jobs head, but I have to drink a few sixers to get ready first..
MSFT had quarterly net profits seven times greater than Apple !!! Apple and Jobs is a lot of hot air.
Just because something is popular doesn't necessarily mean that it
is good or good for you.
market share. Net-Apps has confirmed this now for over six
months. Every month fewer Windows PCs are on the Internet.
And Apple's market share is more like 8-9% in the US. And they
are selling a huge amount of Macs right now when compared to
Windows PCs. Apple is cleaning house in the consumer market.
They may never be a huge player in the Enterprise, but who
cares? Apple would rather sell a computer where they make a
28% gross margin than a cheap PC box that barely makes any
money.
And how many people work for MSFT? More than four times
what Apple has (80K compared to 18K). That doesn't figure in
the equation?
Why are Windows zealots so scared of Apple? Just because more
and more people are buying Macs? Get over it. I would be more
concerned with the mountain of lawsuits MSFT has to address
(Novell) and the huge fines, like the one the EU passed down a
few weeks ago. That should tell you something about the
company you want so badly to defend.
anything negative about Apple here on C|net. In another recent
post he was reliving the 90's and how MS saved Apple from certain
doom...LOL. He's out of touch with the reality that Apple is on fire
and gaining ground in several different sectors - computers, media
and now phones.
"MSFT had quarterly net profits seven times greater than Apple !!!"
5% market share and MSFT has ONLY 7 times greater net profits??? Shouldn't it be WAY MORE than 7 times if Apple is so small? Like you claim?
Sony and Toshiba....you know...other computer manufacturers.
Don't get me wrong, Macs are great (I've got one), but you pay a massive premium for what you get. The design is great, but for bang-for-your buck, Mac is not the way to go. Realistically, this is going to limit market share both in the consumer and business spheres. If all you want to do is surf the net or use Word, then why pay $1200 for a Mac when you can get a PC that does the same thing for $900? Everyday users and businesses are going to continue to think along these lines.
If you just want to look up Grandmas formula for banana nut bread and play Turbo Pong 12 (Return of the blip), Get a cheep dell.
Also, one of the main reasons i bought a PC in the first place was upgradability, yet in order to upgrade just about any component i'd have to upgrade the motherboard which would mean upgrading the CPU, the GPU, the RAM and what not as well, so i might as well buy a whole new computer.
And then there's that loss of productivity and downtime due to software.....again.
/P
Sounds like you're the one spinning here... You assume that people who use Microsoft products (in your terms "Fanboy") actually look at this as a bad thing. Competition is good. Trolling is bad. I doubt you'll ever understand.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/16/vista-sp1-sp1-toilet-
paper-hit-japan/
OSX, Linux, and (yes, even) Windows will likely show a lot of give and take as time goes on.
OSX will likely continue growing like gangbusters, Windows will be forced to improve or die after losing marketshare on this kind of curve, and Linux will continue to rise in use at its own steady pace.
Who knows? Maybe another OS entirely will rise as well.
/P
Apple has chosen to be a niche market supplier and they fit that role very well. I don't think they *want* to be #1 and have to deal with all the headaches that would bring them.
that computer for, creates the individuality you claim to be
striving for. It's like saying to a NASCAR driver, I can whip all of
your ***** in my Lamborghini. Well that might be true... what
isn't true is you building a better and faster Macintosh for less
money. Because the core of the machine lies an OSX, which is far
superior to anything Microsoft will come up with in the next 5 to
7 years. (the average lag time it takes for Microsoft to steal the
innovation Apple comes up with, and implements into Widoze)
Yes it true, Vista finally came up with all of the innovations us
Macheads have enjoyed for the past 5 years in Tiger OSX. But
have fun spending thousands of dollars on that framerate so you
can cheat in your gaming.
LMAO
Nice to see the old names back blasting each other again. Now
where did those other two go?
when you have never used one. lol
Grow up you 10 year old children
- Numbers may not be Useful
- by emellaich March 20, 2008 10:26 AM PDT
- I am looking to buy a new Mac soon, so I'm not a Mac-hater, but these numbers are likely to be quite distorted.
- Reply to this comment
-
(83 Comments)According to this article:
http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2007/04/05/wrong-headline-apple-has-been-selling-computers-at-best-buy-just-expanding/
Apple went from a few best buy stores to over 200 last year.
According to this article:
http://vistasucks.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/best-buy-focuses-on-selling-more-macs-this-year/
Apple went from an estimated 230-270 stores at the end of 2007 to around 500 stores by the end of February.
So, I do believe in my gut that Mac sales percentages are increasing. However, its not clear how much of the reported statistic may be due to the addition of almost 500 new retail outlets since one year ago. The impact of new retail is unknowable. It could have led directly to a sales increase. Or it could have shifted some sales from the web to retail. Or it could be some combination of the two.
The quote that someone left from Steve Jobs shareholder meeting is more informative of the growth, but the number of year-to-year retail sales is really meaningless.
Michael