NPD: Apple's March 2007 Desktop, Laptop, and MP3 Marketshare

[MacRumors]

Bloomberg provided March 2007 marketshare numbers from the NPD Group.

It revealed that for March 2007, Apple was ranked 4th for notebook sales (9.9%), 5th for Desktop sales (7.7%), and #1 for MP3 Player Sales (68.9%).

BetaNews provides a historical perspective on these numbers.

Apple's 9.9% marketshare brings Apple back into the top 5 notebook retailers after it had dropped out in February. Apple's notebook marketshare had been as high as 10.1%, however, in January of this year. The 7.7% Desktop marketshare, however, does represent the first time Apple has placed in the top 5 desktop retailers.

The MP3 marketshare, however, was a decline for Apple, who lost marketshare to SanDisk and Creative.

[kingofkolt]

I'll bet the reason its marketshare in notebooks dropped is that everybody is like us, waiting to buy until the MB's and MBP's are updated.

June 11th can't come soon enough.

[Evangelion]

Originally Posted by kingofkolt

I'll bet the reason its marketshare in notebooks dropped is that everybody is like us, waiting to buy until the MB's and MBP's are updated.

When you do these kinds of comparisons, you should compare the sales to corresponding period in the previous year, and not to prevoius month(s). So, what was Apple's share in march 2006?

As to mp3-players... Apple REALLY should introduce new iPods based on iPhone-technology. If they did that, all their competitors would look old and dated in comparison. Yes yes yes, Apple is banking on the iPhone. But they should remember that iPods are still a huge business for them. And since iPod is not an alternative to the iPhone, and vice versa, it really makes sense to release all-new iPods, and soon.

[k2k koos]

mp3 loss in marketshare is probably only because their iPod's just haven't been updated fast enough, they need new iPods FAST.

Growth in desktop sales is a great sign, but please update the Mac mini to keep the momentum!

Notebook sales, Apple isn't doing too bad there at all, but updated MPB's and to a lesser extend MB's are needed to keep it going!

[sososowhat]

The marketshare numbers seem a bit bogus because they're retail store only. Notice that Dell isn't anywhere on the list. I'd think that most corporate sales don't go through retail stores. Overall market share must be less -- not 7.7% and 9.9%.

[r-sparks]

Does anybody know an official source of usage figures for Macs? Maybe a percentage of desktop users?

I'm running a one-man campaign against sites that are incompatible with Safari or use Windows-only movie/audio formats (WMP). Being able to quote an official source of info is handy.

I've been mentioning that 10% of potential users will be blocked from their site/content, but I've never cited sources.

Incidentally, is anybody interested in making this official? I'd love to see a site naming and shaming developers who can't be bothered to test against Safari, and that suggest instead that we download third-party apps to access their site/content.

[Marx55]

These are US figures. What about worldwide marketshare numbers for computers, operating systems, web browsers and MP3s?

[pederg]

Originally Posted by sososowhat

The marketshare numbers seem a bit bogus because they're retail store only. Notice that Dell isn't anywhere on the list. I'd think that most corporate sales don't go through retail stores.

Notice that apple also sell a big percentage of mac's through their online store...

[siurpeeman]

Originally Posted by sososowhat

The marketshare numbers seem a bit bogus because they're retail store only. Notice that Dell isn't anywhere on the list. I'd think that most corporate sales don't go through retail stores. Overall market share must be less -- not 7.7% and 9.9%.

Originally Posted by pederg

Notice that apple also sell a big percentage of mac's through their online store...

that goes for ipods, too.

[agentmouthwash]

The iPod dip is true. I ride the NYC subway a lot which is a good indicator of that technology people use. I few years ago you would see that all of the Mp3 players were iPods, now I am seeing all different kinds.

Apple needs to release a larger screen with a scratch resistant case. They'll probably jump back up to the 70% range.

[aswitcher]

Yeah, I think people are holding off for new "touch your music" iPods.

[MacIke]

These numbers mean very little.

Without direct sales (read Apple Stores, Apple online and Dell) what is the point of saying anything?

Without numbers from the largest retailer on the planet what do these numbers say? Not much.

This is for only one small section of the market.

Look at the top two spots. Those two are featured at Best Buy and Compusa like crazy.

[masse]

How do those numbers say nothing?

It shows a trend right? A trend that seems to make sense to everyone.

But I agree it is sort of useless.

[Counter]

Originally Posted by aswitcher

Yeah, I think people are holding off for new "touch your music" iPods.

I'm holding off for a 'touch the musician' iPod.

[notjustjay]

Yep, watch out Apple, Microsoft's Zune is....

Oh, wait...

[MarcelV]

for the iPod 'dip' in marketshare, I noticed that when visiting Best Buy, people really started to pay attention to Sandisk. Mostly it was driven by price. For the same or slightly higher than the shuffle, you have 2GB and a screen. For kids that counts, and because of a lack of upgrades, the iPod is loosing it's cool factor.

I am not saying that iPod sales numbers will be down at all, but there should be some concern within Apple about this. On the other hand, the MP3 player became a commodity and those high marketshare numbers are really hard to sustain.

[thelem]

You might want to mention in your articles like this whether the figures are US-only or world wide. Apple to sell a lot of computers to people outside your little country you know.

[notsofatjames]

with the release of the iPhone, iPod sales are going to dip, but does a sold iPhone count towards the iPod sales figures, since it is a iPod with built in phone/phone with built in iPod...

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by thelem

You might want to mention in your articles like this whether the figures are US-only or world wide. Apple to sell a lot of computers to people outside your little country you know.

I totally agree!

[Grimace]

These numbers mean nothing. Where are IBM/Lenovo and Dell? Oh yeah, two of the top manufacturers don't have retail stores.

[phillipjfry]

Probably already stated but, a touchscreen ipod 120+gb space will fix that mp3 market share

[zap2]

Originally Posted by k2k koos

mp3 loss in marketshare is probably only because their iPod's just haven't been updated fast enough, they need new iPods FAST.
!

Kind of...its not like they lost a huge amount, a huge lead. And considering all iPods are currently old, its not a big deal at all.(The Shuffle isn't, the Nano is kind of, and the 5G is)

[zap2]

Originally Posted by thelem

You might want to mention in your articles like this whether the figures are US-only or world wide. Apple to sell a lot of computers to people outside your little country you know.

The USA is not little...its a very large country.

And the reaspm MR did not say where the data is from, is because the NDP Group never told us.

[dongmin]

Originally Posted by phillipjfry

Probably already stated but, a touchscreen ipod 120+gb space will fix that mp3 market share

Only if it's priced $99 or below. I imagine where Apple is losing out these days is at the low end of the market.

[CoreWeb]

Originally Posted by r-sparks

Does anybody know an official source of usage figures for Macs? Maybe a percentage of desktop users?

I'm running a one-man campaign against sites that are incompatible with Safari or use Windows-only movie/audio formats (WMP). Being able to quote an official source of info is handy.

I've been mentioning that 10% of potential users will be blocked from their site/content, but I've never cited sources.

Incidentally, is anybody interested in making this official? I'd love to see a site naming and shaming developers who can't be bothered to test against Safari, and that suggest instead that we download third-party apps to access their site/content.

Check out WebKit.org's Safari "Compatibility Hit List". It has a list of sites that have problems with Safari.

Also, Safari is only about 5-6% of the browser market share (at best). However, if you add Firefox to Safari, you get, I believe, over 20%. So you have plenty of ground on attacking sites which are not compatible with either Firefox or Safari, as 1 in 5 users will be using those browsers. You have less ground (though still a good amount) when talking about Safari alone, as 1 in 20 will be using it.

Personally, I find very few sites that are incompatible with Safari. I suppose my experience is much different than others, though.