Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
It is US-based retail sales in the month of February. Think of who is NOT in the picture -- Dell. Add in that factor, and it gives a very different perspective on marketshare.

Very true. That being said, Dell wasn't included in the 9% figure either, so it is still pretty good growth.

arn
 
Sounds good! Let's hope the trend continues

It's gonna continue. Just take a look in the forums here and see how many newbies are getting their first MAC's!

Plus all the people that you may know talking about switching. It's amazing! I see these numbers getting much larger over the course of the next several years!
:apple:;):apple:
 
Market share has nothing to do with how secure an OS is.

not directly. but as an OS becomes more popular and more widely used, it also becomes more interesting for hackers and other people who are interested in exploiting possible security issues to their advantage. There have and always will be ways to hack a system and macs are no different, as more and more people start using them, there will be more security issues for sure.
 
Doooomed! Apple is doooooomed!!!

There, just had to get that out of the way.

Very true. That being said, Dell wasn't included in the 9% figure either, so it is still pretty good growth.

Apple also sells a ton of computers through its online store that aren't counted, and Dell keeps getting smaller and smaller (relative to the market) anyway, so it's not clear to me that the "no direct online sales counted" aspect really biases things one way or the other.

What is a much bigger factor is that this doesn't count any enterprise-level sales, which is Apple's weakest point (though again, in fairness to Apple, it also misses their strength in the education sector). So the appropriate conclusion is that Apple is making *major* inroads in the consumer market (already 25% of revenue share!).
 
It is as simple as people trying Mac OS X and discovering that it is much better than the awkward and anti-intuitive Windows. Once you know the Mac, you do not want Windows even for free!

I disagree, I prefer XP to OS X
 
It is as simple as people trying Mac OS X and discovering that it is much better than the awkward and anti-intuitive Windows. Once you know the Mac, you do not want Windows even for free!

QFT.

I recently had to install Windows on my Macbook Pro to do some testing. It's awful. There are so many unpolished edges and bits that didn't fit. If Windows were a car you'd cut yourself getting in and out, the whole thing would be rusty and you'd be leaving parts behind as you drove after about a week. I really have a hard time getting work done. It's just so ungainly. Maybe I could get used to it after a while, but why would I want to?
 
It is as simple as people trying Mac OS X and discovering that it is much better than the awkward and anti-intuitive Windows. Once you know the Mac, you do not want Windows even for free!
Opinions =/= fact. I'm surprised you didn't learn this back in grade school.
 
I think wooden houses are more damaged by termites than brick house only because there are so many more wood houses.

OMG, that's so perfect!

Anyway, it's good to see that Apple's marketshare is on the rise. Hopefully it won't get so high that Apple stops caring about making good products (à la Microshaft).
 
QFT.

I recently had to install Windows on my Macbook Pro to do some testing. It's awful. There are so many unpolished edges and bits that didn't fit. If Windows were a car you'd cut yourself getting in and out, the whole thing would be rusty and you'd be leaving parts behind as you drove after about a week. I really have a hard time getting work done. It's just so ungainly. Maybe I could get used to it after a while, but why would I want to?

Don't forget that if Windows were a car, you'd experience frequent crashes. :eek:
 
Oooft. Didn't expect to see that news! :)



It is US-based retail sales in the month of February. Think of who is NOT in the picture -- Dell. Add in that factor, and it gives a very different perspective on marketshare.

Are Dell not retailing it up in the US yet? They're doing it over here...
 
this seems to include both Notebooks and Desktops.

And this presumably means of all computers sold in the U.S. at retail locations in 2008, 14% of them were Apple computers. So online sales not included.

It says nothing about total installed marketshare.

This doesn't seem to be conclusive then. How many people order online from Dell vs. buying at a retail location? I bet it's less than 14%. But it could be argued that it's more than 14%.
 
buy apple stock :D

Given the current market sentiment, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple stock goes down a few points tomorrow just because some analyst will come out and say that Apple's percentage share growth in the PC sector is not sustainable...

:-(
 
What does this actually tell us about total market share? There's no doubt that figures increased - as you would expect with the launch of a new product line in the Air (although desktops have risen markedly too) - but what does it mean in total?
 
What does this actually tell us about total market share? There's no doubt that figures increased - as you would expect with the launch of a new product line in the Air (although desktops have risen markedly too) - but what does it mean in total?

Well, over time, it will increase total marketshare. It's impossible to measure actual total marketshare. But if a 14% of new computers sold are consistently Apple's, over time, the total marketshare will approach 14% -- assuming Macs and PCs have the same average lifespan.

One company that tries to estimate actual marketshare is Net Applications:
https://www.macrumors.com/2008/01/01/mac-market-share-over-7-in-december/

but their methods are inherently biased also. They measure browser marketshare at a given time across a number of sites. So, they measure internet-capable marketshare. This is also affected by the type of sites that they include.

arn
 
This doesn't seem to be conclusive then. How many people order online from Dell vs. buying at a retail location? I bet it's less than 14%. But it could be argued that it's more than 14%.

While we don't know that number, I think the most concrete information that can be taken from this data is this:

Apple's retail sales marketshare grew from 9% to 14% in 1 year.

Those 5 percentage points came out of someone else's share... be it Dell or Acer, or whoever. So, Apple's marketshare is growing.

arn
 
Yes, I agree that Net Applications isn't the best - although neither are w3schools or OneStat for the same reasons.

It's just difficult to judge because these figures don't - I think - include on-line sales or product shipment outwith the US so unless we know the number of units shifted split by product it's difficult to compare sales volumes.
 
Market share has nothing to do with how secure an OS is.

are you guys serious? why should a hacker take the time to make a virus when it can only infect 5% of machines? as Apple gains marketshare, especially among younger people who download and cruise the net more, Apple will become a more ripe (pardon the pun) target. maybe not at 15% but 20%, 25%... OS X may be more secure but it is not impenetrable

and back to topic, all I have to say in my best Mr. Burns voice...

"EXcelllllent.."
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.