Mac Market Share Update

[MacRumors]

Fresh off the heels of Apple announcing a nearly 30% increase in Mac shipments from the year-ago quarter, research firm IDC has pegged Apple's U.S. market share for the December quarter (Apple's fiscal 1Q 2007) at 4.7%, up 1.1% from 3.6% the year ago quarter.

Apple saw another quarter of very solid growth as the company combined new portable products with strong retail sales and positive press following a successful transition to Intel processors. Worldwide and U.S. shipments were each up roughly 30% year on year. The company also continues to benefit from its music business and new developments such as the iPhone will not only drive more positive press and buyer interest, but further expand the number of people using at least one Apple product who may come into the Apple fold.

While Apple's market share numbers are down from last quarter (Gartner), the fluctuation is likely a seasonal swing. Appleinsider quotes a PiperJaffray analyst who expects Apple's numbers to bounce back once professional customers begin buying when Adobe CS3 ships.

Apple remains #4 in IDC's rankings of U.S. shipments, but is not listed in the preliminary world rankings.

[P-Worm]

Wow. If you consider the number of computers out there, that is a huge gain.

P-Worm

[miketcool]

How does the other 95.3% breakdown?

[Digitalclips]

Originally Posted by miketcool

How does the other 95.3% breakdown?

Well often they freeze, sometimes they crash outright but mostly just get slower and slower ...

[gregorsamsa]

Excellent news! Would be good to know how many Macs sold in last year went to switchers & how many to previous Mac owners moving from PPC to Intel?

[Dont Hurt Me]

Apple post sall this good news and the stock plummets? I dont get it. Perhaps its desktop sales arent cutting the mustard for investors?

[bousozoku]

It's really tough to trust any of these numbers. I've seen 6+ % from another company just the previous quarter. 4.7 % would not be a gain. When I see more retailers willing to promote Macs, I'll be inclined to believe an overall gain.

Gartner is claiming 5.1 % for quarter 4, up from 3.7 % a year ago in this article.

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by gregorsamsa

Excellent news! Would be good to know how many Macs sold in last year went to switchers & how many to previous Mac owners moving from PPC to Intel?

Apple stated 50% of sales are to switchers accross all channels, apple.com, Apple stores, resellers, indy dealers.

Rocketman

[PlaceofDis]

Originally Posted by Dont Hurt Me

Apple post sall this good news and the stock plummets? I dont get it. Perhaps its desktop sales arent cutting the mustard for investors?

naw good quaters like this make people think that the company is peaking and will see a slow-down in the coming months instead of more growth.

[gregorsamsa]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

Apple stated 50% of sales are to switchers accross all channels, apple.com, Apple stores, resellers, indy dealers.

Rocketman

Thanks. 50% switchers is most encouraging. With new Mac products on the way, maybe new hardware, & some inevitable disillusionment with Vista, things can only get even better for the foreseeable future.

[tektonnic]

Anyone know where there is a full market breakdown?

Also, is there a break down of the most recent MP3 Player market shares (inc. Zune)?

[SciTeach]

Originally Posted by Digitalclips

Well often they freeze, sometimes they crash outright but mostly just get slower and slower ...

BEST RESPONSE EVER!!!

[Dagless]

Not surprising really. The Intel switch has pulled in lots of my previously Apple-bashing friends. It's actually quite a beautiful thing to see someone who constantly hated Apple and complained about my choice of computer buy an iMac on impulse. later ditching his Sony MP3 player for an iPod.

Them numbers are just going to keep rising.

[Doctor Q]

Getting up to 4.7% was a nice jump. Too bad they didn't make the magic 5.0% mark, which would have been a notable milestone for the press.

[dmelgar]

Apple said their US Mac sales were up 31%, and the market overall was up 3%. That sounds like a market share gain. What am I missing? What that year to year vs. compared to previous quarter?

Did the US market grow this quarter? I also read some article that said the US market actually contracted 3%. Too many seemingly conflicting reports.

[Grimace]

Originally Posted by Dont Hurt Me

Apple post sall this good news and the stock plummets? I dont get it. Perhaps its desktop sales arent cutting the mustard for investors?

Investors care more for earnings. It doesn't matter as much how apple does when it reports earnings (unless it's bad news) as when it is projecting future growth. Apple gave a timid outlook for the next quarter - hence the stock plummet. It will bounce back in a week or so, the only thing that is still outstanding is Jobs' standing with the US gov. investigation.

[Macgirl87]

That [I]is[I]a nice jump! They never cease to amaze...

[Stella]

More importantly, whats the world wide market share?

[Grimace]

Originally Posted by dmelgar

Apple said their US Mac sales were up 31%, and the market overall was up 3%. That sounds like a market share gain. What am I missing? What that year to year vs. compared to previous quarter?

Did the US market grow this quarter? I also read some article that said the US market actually contracted 3%. Too many seemingly conflicting reports.

If I sell 10 Grimace brand computers this year and 13 next year, my sales climb 30% too. But, in the grand scheme of millions and millions of computer sold, it wouldn't even budge the numbers.

[AlmostThere]

Originally Posted by Stella

More importantly, whats the world wide market share?

[sadlyNecessarySarcasmTag]
Please be serious, you know full well the US is the only country that counts.
[/sadlyNecessarySarcasmTag]

[shawnce]

Like this break down...

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070118-8652.html

Another nice break down of Apple quarter information..

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070118-8656.html

[BRLawyer]

Originally Posted by Stella

More importantly, whats the world wide market share?

The world share is irrelevant in this context, as most countries still pay huge taxes for imported industrial goods...and Macs are exactly that for most.

[Analog Kid]

Wow... Bumping up 1% really does feel like something. I'll take 1% a year-- that would feel about right to me...

[cynerjist]

Originally Posted by Grimace

Apple gave a timid outlook for the next quarter - hence the stock plummet.

This is correct.

Apple strangely underpromises and overdelivers. They intentionally skew estimates. As a result, the stock has a crappy looking eps or forward p/e. The problem is that investors can't tell if Apple is really telling the truth or continuing to UPOD.

[Analog Kid]

Originally Posted by cynerjist

This is correct.

Apple strangely underpromises and overdelivers. They intentionally skew estimates. As a result, the stock has a crappy looking eps or forward p/e. The problem is that investors can't tell if Apple is really telling the truth or continuing to UPOD.

This one probably makes sense-- No Leopard until late in the quarter so Mac sales are going to slow. No iPhone until June so iPod sales will slow. General Christmas hangover. iTV isn't going to make up the difference on that.