While the number of Apple-owning households continues to grow, the vast majority of those Macs are sharing space with at least one Windows-based PC, according to a new study.
The NPD Group said Monday that its online survey found that 12 percent of households with a computer have at least one Mac, up from 9 percent a year ago. Nearly 85 percent of those with a Mac, though, also have at least one Windows-based PC.
(Credit:
Apple)
Overall, Mac owners tend to have more computers and more electronic devices than non-Mac owners. Two-thirds of those with an Apple machine have three or more computers, compared with 29 percent of Windows-only houses.
Houses with Macs also tend to be home to twice as many gadgets, including more iPods and GPS systems than are present in non-Mac abodes.
That makes me feel a bit better about my own domicile, which is home to several Macs and PCs, not to mention more gadgets than I care to admit. There's another reason, though, why Apple owners tend to have more digital gear than their non-Mac-possessing counterparts.
"While Apple owners tend to own more computers and more electronics devices, there is also a high correlation among Apple owners and more affluent consumer households," NPD analyst Stephen Baker said in a statement. "Thirty-six percent of Apple computer owners reported household incomes greater than $100,000, compared to 21 percent of all consumers. With a higher household income, though, it's not a surprise that those consumers are making more electronics purchases."
NPD compiled its results from 2,300 responses to its online survey.
Apple has confirmed data leaked from an internal memo showing that it has become the largest music retailer in the U.S.
The iTunes Music Store is now the leading music retailer in the U.S.
(Credit: Apple)Earlier Thursday, Ars Technica reported that certain Apple employees had received an internal e-mail with the results of a study conducted by The NPD Group. NPD initially declined to comment on the data, citing the fact that it was leaked from Apple, but Apple distributed a press release Thursday afternoon confirming the data from NPD's MusicWatch survey.
Apple didn't include its market share in the release, but Ars reported that Apple had 19 percent of overall music sales in the U.S. during January, compared with Wal-Mart's 16 percent. Apple did say that its achievement was based on two months of data, from sales in January and February of this year.
One interesting note about NPD's MusicWatch survey is that it equates 12 tracks with the sale of one CD. iTunes generates a lot of one- or two-track purchases as compared with the purveyors of physical CDs, where you either buy the whole thing or you don't. All those 99-cent transactions apparently add up.
It's a good thing the music industry has Mac users, according to The NPD Group.
That's because according to a survey conducted by the market research firm, Mac users are more likely to pay to download music--and buy CDs--than Windows users. "There's still a cultural divide between Apple consumers and the rest of the computing world, and that's especially apparent when it comes to the way they interact with music," said Russ Crupnick, an analyst with NPD, in a press release.
The guy on the left doesn't seem to like music as much as the guy on the right, according to NPD.
(Credit: Apple)The data says that 50 percent of all Mac users surveyed by NPD purchased at least one song during the third quarter, while only 16 percent of Windows users purchased a song from an online music store. And 32 percent of Mac users bought a CD during that same time, while just 28 percent of Windows users did so.
NPD says this means Mac users are "more active" when it comes to digital music than their PC counterparts. It also says that the data "helps debunk the myth that digital music consumers stop buying music in CD format."
So, what conclusion should we draw, then? Mac users are more honest than piracy-loving Windows users? Mac users are more satisfied with the current craptacular state of popular music than Windows users? NPD has a vested interest in keeping one of its clients happy with press releases such as this one, which basically reinforces Apple's branding as the computer company for cool creative people?
The whole "Mac users are younger/smarter/richer/better looking" argument has been going on for years, and while there is some demographic data to support parts of that debate, it seems a bit too much to assert that a "cultural divide" is responsible for the tendency of Mac users to buy music more frequently than Windows users. I thought Peter Kafka at Silicon Valley Insider made the obvious point that the survey did not: iTunes is bundled with Macs. I'm willing to accept the premise that people buy Macs with entertainment applications in mind, but does this conclusion from the press release really make sense? "Apple's growing share in the personal computing environment--and continued success with iPod sales--is a potential harbinger for the continued growth of digital music."
If Apple's Mac market share were to increase to say 20 percent--which would be about in line with market leader Hewlett-Packard's share--would that mean that all those former Windows users who didn't want to pay to download digital music would suddenly see the light and turn into online music shoppers simply because they switched to a Mac and jumped that "cultural divide?" It's not like the Windows world doesn't have options for legally purchasing and organizing music online; in fact, Apple offers the most popular one. That statement seems to be saying that the computer, not the person using it or even the songs themselves, is the thing that drives digital music sales, and I find that hard to believe.
Anyway, for the record, NPD said that Apple did not commission the study nor had anything to do with its content or conclusions. An NPD representative said "the Apple info we included in the press release consisted of just a few small nuggets in the overall report that (analysts) thought might get some press coverage during the dog days of the holidays, that's all." Fair enough, although I'm going to be really skeptical if the next report is entitled: "Survey: Mac users more likely to get dates, consistently hit jump shots."
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