U.S. Mac Sales Down in June Despite Introduction of New MacBook Airs

[chadley_chad]

I, for one, am quite happy that Apple is willing to do away with those things. I want my laptops as thin and light as possible.

I'm talking about desktops. You may be surprised to hear that people still use them you know ... and those that do, would rather have an optical drive than a 2mm slimmer iMac!!!!

You enjoy your slim laptops, but understand not everyone has the same needs/desires as yourself!

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

He's determined to hate Apple and will misinterpret any statistic possible to make Apple look bad.

None of the numbers I supplied were misinterpreted. I gave the link to support them.

Apple does look bad in the US in comparison to Lenovo and Dell's numbers for laptop and desktop computers. What's your point?

 

[chadley_chad]

Better? Certainly not. Good enough for people that don't know any better is absolutely accurate though.

? Yes, better. If you think the iPhone 5 (for example) is a better phone than an HTC One or S4 then I'm afraid you're deluded ... rather like Apple as I've described - too complacent, resting on laurels too much etc etc! There's your problem!

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Yup, i forgot. Macs are SUPPOSED TO compete against the HTC One and the S4.

What are you talking about????

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Brainwashed? So you're basically calling Apple users stupid or ignorant? Nice.

No, as I'm an Apple user myself. There is a case however that some 'Apple fans' (sheep as they're called!) will blatantly buy anything because it's apple and not even look at what the competition has to offer. Apple have also relied on this sort of user for too long, milking them for every penny. After 4 generations of iPhone ownership, I've moved to both a windows phone and an S4 ... Both of which in my opinion are now a better offering than the iPhone ... and when (for example) I want more memory, I buy an SD card; I'm not forced into paying apple more cash or believing competitor phones don't have all the same (AND MORE) features of the iPhone.

Read my posting again; it's not an attack against anyone, it's a fact against apple!

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Oh really. The average Joe cares about an optical drive? I've only used mine once the entire year. The issue is tablets are eating away sales, especially considering an iPad costs 500 bucks less than the air. The entire pc market is down, and of course macs will take the biggest hit as the costliest of the market.

I care about an optical drive so I can burn CD's to iTunes, burn my own CD's for the car, burn movies to DVD, backup, load software ... all the requirements that existed a year ago and still today. Just because you have no need, doesn't mean others don't ... That's the arrogant thinking that has caused apple to lose market share to-date! And on the occasion you did need one, what did you do ... Go out and buy one, have the hassle of borrowing one, hooking it up ... Or did you not wish it was built in to your iMac ... You know, the one which no longer has one ... But at least it's 2mm slimmer eh! Good job you did have one! Hmmm.

 

[sexiewasd]

I think that the four biggest things that drive the average consumer's choice in a computer are:

Form factor, they have probably decided on a form factor at around the same time as they decided that they needed something new wether that be desktop, laptop, or tablet.

Price, they know how much they want to spend, which is usually less than they ought to spend.

Familiarity, people on average do not want to invest in learning something new while something they already know is available, and comparable.

Features, what does object A do that Object B cannot do, and what does object A do better that object B can also do.

As I see it, apple has only one of the four that it really needs to focus on, and that's features. That might be someone walking into bestbuy and asking "which one is faster". Apple doesn't play the spec race game often so they aren't going to win on that front any time soon. So what does an Apple do that a PC does not? I can't think of many things.

Apple needs to give much more focus to their software offerings, and I don't mean the OS, but the value add extras. They need to really push the integration of Mac and iOS and how well they work together, and they need to push iOS in the business, because if they win with tablets in that sector than the Mac can tag along because of the interoperability between the two. They need to be competitive with iWork and the pro tools (excuse the pun), and to save their life they need to get iCloud right because Dropbox is kicking their butt with it's cross platform goodness and swell app API.


Just my monthly rant.

 

[ChrisTX]

There's simply no reason to upgrade for 2011-2012 owners.

I have an early 2011 MBP, and would absolutely LOVE a rMBP. However my Mac still runs fine, and there's no real need to upgrade just yet.

 

[appleisking]

? Yes, better. If you think the iPhone 5 (for example) is a better phone than an HTC One or S4 then I'm afraid you're deluded ... rather like Apple as I've described - too complacent, resting on laurels too much etc etc! There's your problem!

----------



What are you talking about????

----------



No, as I'm an Apple user myself. There is a case however that some 'Apple fans' (sheep as they're called!) will blatantly buy anything because it's apple and not even look at what the competition has to offer. Apple have also relied on this sort of user for too long, milking them for every penny. After 4 generations of iPhone ownership, I've moved to both a windows phone and an S4 ... Both of which in my opinion are now a better offering than the iPhone ... and when (for example) I want more memory, I buy an SD card; I'm not forced into paying apple more cash or believing competitor phones don't have all the same (AND MORE) features of the iPhone.

Read my posting again; it's not an attack against anyone, it's a fact against apple!

----------



I care about an optical drive so I can burn CD's to iTunes, burn my own CD's for the car, burn movies to DVD, backup, load software ... all the requirements that existed a year ago and still today. Just because you have no need, doesn't mean others don't ... That's the arrogant thinking that has caused apple to lose market share to-date! And on the occasion you did need one, what did you do ... Go out and buy one, have the hassle of borrowing one, hooking it up ... Or did you not wish it was built in to your iMac ... You know, the one which no longer has one ... But at least it's 2mm slimmer eh! Good job you did have one! Hmmm.

Um we're talking about mac market share not smartphone market share, so why even bring the s4 and htc one into this comment thread is beyond me, btw more iphone 5s have been sold than any other iphone before it wht do you have to say to that? Second, I have an optical drive built in. But I've only ever needed to use it once, and I doubt I'll ever have to use it again. Idk why you bring up CDs that tech is beyond dated, most cars have ipod support, nobody uses cds anymore. Burn movies to DVD, again why most content is streamable or downloadable? Load software. What software still requires a dvd/cd and if it does get a cheap optical drive nobody says you have to use Apple's? Most people have no need of an optical drive, especially not on a laptop. It's just a fact of the tech we have today, and Apple feels by getting rid of optical drives they will make most users happier thru thinner products and fewer moving parts. Your needs are an exception to that paradigm, which is fine but I for one would not be bothered with a device that doesn't have one. Btw, windows phone better than iphone lol right. Have fun with that app selection. Android i won't argue. But you're reacting too emotionally to this. You as a consumer, can simply move on to what you feel are better areas. I don't necessarily agree with what you believe is better, but that's my personal opinion and I don't know why you care about Apple's market share. That's their business and theirs alone. I don't buy their products based on their market share I buy them because I prefer them to others'.

 

[flux73]

I care about an optical drive so I can burn CD's to iTunes, burn my own CD's for the car, burn movies to DVD, backup, load software ... all the requirements that existed a year ago and still today. Just because you have no need, doesn't mean others don't ... That's the arrogant thinking that has caused apple to lose market share to-date! And on the occasion you did need one, what did you do ... Go out and buy one, have the hassle of borrowing one, hooking it up ... Or did you not wish it was built in to your iMac ... You know, the one which no longer has one ... But at least it's 2mm slimmer eh! Good job you did have one! Hmmm.

http://amzn.com/B008AJLPYS
Is there are a reason you can't buy an external optical drive since you have the need for one? It's less than $40. You do realize that you're in the minority? If you were in the majority, Apple would have kept the optical drive in there. Plus, the computer you currently have still has an optical drive, right? So you'll switch platforms for a future computer purchase, over a missing optical drive, that you could easily replace with an external one?

The optical drive in my 2010 Mac Mini pisses me off. It broke. So I took it into an Apple store and it would cost $179 to replace. I plan on doing it myself, but I need to get the part and then take the time to take it apart, which isn't that easy because of how compact it is. Optical drives, for whatever reason, break really easily. When I was using Windows PC's, I went through at least 4 of them. In a Mac Mini, they're just a bit more of a pain to replace. But I've been putting it off because I simply use my external optical drive that I have for my MBA. And the thing is, I hardly ever need it anyhow. It just bothers me that it doesn't work and yet, it's still a part of my Mac Mini.

 

[cppguy]

Agreed. So why haven't consumer blades and grids become commonplace?

Because most desktop applications don't benefit that much from parallel processing. A server that serves 64 users could use 64 processors, but on the desktop it would be pretty hard to write a single application using so much power. In other words, it is notoriously difficult to parallelize what a single user does. If you have 16 or more documents to process, you can use 16 CPU cores. But while working on one document at a time, you're rarely using more than 2 cores. Intel has been trying to push its tools and libraries for developers, but most programmers don't take advantage of dramatic parallelization. Blades only work in servers because there are so many independent users, not because server programmers are so much better.

 

[OLDCODGER]

Having read all the comments, I find myself in a group of one.

I will not upgrade my early 2009 Mini until it dies, because of the latest OSs. I stopped at SL, and any new m/c I buy is looking more and more as if it will be loaded with Ubuntu.

I don't want iosification, hate the very idea of the cloud and the barbed wire fence of the walled ecosystem.

If I am to be forced to change, I may as well go whole hog on a new system entirely - and one which still gives me full - private - control of my own data.

 

[alexgowers]

I don't think apple could have done much better with sales considering their high end ethos and line up. It's a very strong one but way above the price threshold most consider for a day to day laptop. It's a shame we have a global depression that is hitting quality products hardest.

I don't think it'd be worth chasing the cheaper customers but I do think there could be many people stuck on the edge because of how apple has released the latest set of machine.

If you want a laptop you probably want the MBP, good price, quad core, large hard drive, old processors, not likely to be updated.

Retinas are sorely under spec'd in hard drive space for the asking price so are a no go no matter what apple thinks.

Air's are too slow and you might as well get an ipad if you aren't doing video, audio or 3d production.

If you ask me apple has basically roadblocked their own sales now. especially after showing the desktop update with no release and not enough specs or prices to know what kind of machine it'll be.

I'm waiting like many for updated retinas with more storage and haswell. If prices are still too high I might have to wait another gen just to get the SSD space needed.

If they update the MBP non retina i'll buy straight away.

 

[imageWIS]

There's simply no reason to upgrade for 2011-2012 owners.

This. The only advantage of the current Mac Mini to mine from mid-2011 is USB 3.0. The next Mac Mini needs at least the Intel HD 5000 and a discrete GPU option, plus newer CPU's and then I'll upgrade. Also, my MBA from 2011 also works perfectly well for my ultra portable needs and I don't need to upgrade at the moment.

 

[surfmonkey]

It's simple,,,,,

10 years ago, the life cycle of a computer was way shorter than now. The speed of your computer, at that time, was closely related to your internet speed. (Page rendering, surfing. etc..) Now,,, going from page to page with basic internet surfing is as fast as it needs to be for a great experience. Any computer cheap or expensive for the last 5 or so years surfs pretty much the same. 90 percent of computer owners do not need processing power as they do not do ANYTHING else but emails and the net.

Why upgrade? Perhaps to get the latest greatest,,, but really,,, does my Wife, her parents, my parents, brother or sister, need to? I edit video and go for the processing power, but the other 7 people I mentioned have and love older MacBooks.

Just sayin...

 

[Xiroteus]

Idk why you bring up CDs that tech is beyond dated, most cars have ipod support, nobody uses cds anymore. Burn movies to DVD, again why most content is streamable or downloadable?

Not aimed at me yet can answer these as well. Even though I am no longer a fan of CD's there are times when they can be found for cheap like a dollar, a lot better then digital downloads and having a way to burn those is handy. Also handy for a collection that already exists.

Streaming and downloading does not help one play what they already own and anything new would be too costly. I would not even buy a digital download movie for five dollars let alone spend that to rent one.

Normally I hate the idea of externals aside from backup yet even my need for discs has drops greatly and using one blu-ray drive between three systems to keep overall computer profiles down would not be a huge deal. Of course that is only based on using them less. If I used them several times I week I would want them built in.

 

[cookies!]

I have a feeling the sales drop is more related to the fact that the education sale started later this year than it did in previous ones.

 

[itsaustinh]

Posting this from my 2013 MacBook Air, my first Mac! Looking forward to using it for my senior year of high school! Haven't had any issues with wifi connection or other issues that people have described, it's been an all-around great experience. I expect Mac sales will be up in July with student discounts and gift cards being included with sales.

 

[92jlee]

Prices are too high. We are in a recession but they don't seem to notice that.
Apple could easily get to 50% of the computer market AND make unbelievable amounts of cash if they halved mac prices (maybe not halved but brought them down to PC prices)
Their market share would grow overnight and their stock would rocket up.

 

[r3m1]

[...]

I do however have big hope for Apple. IWatch if done right has the potential to revolutionise the watch industry and a proper Apple TV can also do the same. They also have yet to really diversify, this is why you see rumour such ad 4.3 iPhone and budget iPhone. Then of course they have the Chinese / Asia market which has barely been exposed.

iWatch will be gimmick/gadget at best - it is not going to revolutionise the watch industry - you seem to forget that majority of watches are bought on brand value or appeal - an iWatch will not be compared to a Patek, Rolex, Breitling, Tag H., etc.

 

[trajan2448]

Big boy missing

Since Apple stopped production of the big boy 17" last year, three consecutive quarters of declining MAC sales. Disappointing audio visual pros who have been long time loyal customers because the 17" sales were not profitable ENOUGH is bean counter idiocy. These users need optical discs, discrete GPUs, lots of ram, and the big screen for work on the fly. Now Cook hired some fashion adviser for big bucks. Yeah, like that's going to help.

 

[lucas107]

U.S. Mac Sales Down in June Despite Introduction of New MacBook Airs emphasizes the Mac problem. What were the sales like for the non Mac companies? Balance is important.

Lenovo has been up in the 20 percent area recently. I think every other manufacturer has been down thou. World wide I'm pretty sure mac has been down for the past few quarter's while again only Lenovo has been up pc wise

 

[Narcaz]

I am surprised that the sales did not drop lower. Maybe there was a little help from Windows 8, because I think the Mac portfolio is a mess right now:

1) Apple does not know wat desktop users want. Why thinner and lighter? Why low gaming performance? Why no clever solution for the wire mess? It seems like they have no clue how to build a funtional desktop system.

2) Apple has to many Macbooks. Why are there three 13 devices? They should offer only two lines. A 11", 13", 15" Air line with high portability and long lasting battery with comprises in screen resolution and performance. And a 13", 15", 17" Pro line with high performance and retina screen.

Overall Apple has so many overpriced options. They should get rid of them and lower the prices for all devices. Their market share would easily climb. I think in the long run Apple could benefit more from a high market share than from high margins.

 

[Zendokan]

Since Apple stopped production of the big boy 17" last year, three consecutive quarters of declining MAC sales. Disappointing audio visual pros who have been long time loyal customers because the 17" sales were not profitable ENOUGH is bean counter idiocy. These users need optical discs, discrete GPUs, lots of ram, and the big screen for work on the fly. Now Cook hired some fashion adviser for big bucks. Yeah, like that's going to help.

+1

I bought a 17" MBP last year (2011 model year) when I found out that they would be discontinued.

For my work (IT-consultant for Bank, Insurance and Money Transfer compagnies), I still needed an optical drive and an ethernet connection preferably in combination with a 17" screen.
And I didn't want too much hassle with dongles and the external Superdrive.

It's a great and robust machine and it's still easely upgradable. So in time, I will replace the ODD and HDD with SSD's and upgrade the RAM from 8Gb to 16Gb (probably Kingston's) and that machine will be good to go till the end of 2015 as a professional machine and then still several years as a home usage machine.
Heck, if the ODD is still working by that time, I can put that into an external ODD casing and have a Superdrive.

The time that you needed to upgrade your PC/Mac every 1 to 2 years hasn't been true for a majority of the Industries since Intel came with their iSeries CPU's. This also covers the home usage for the majority of people.

Yes, there are still professions that need the latest and the best machines (movie, animation, photography, sound engineering), but that's a small minority in the work force.
I'm not seeing accountants, marketeers, administrative workers complain that there PC/Mac is 2 years old and "outdated" ;-)

PC's/Mac's will not dissapair for a long time, but their usage will change/decline with smartphones and tablets taking over some of their tasks in households.

 

[Zendokan]

About the (internal) optical drive:
It will dissapair this year completely when Apple stops with the cMBP.

They will keep their external Superdrive for maybe a few more years until iCloud, Dropbox, streaming, downloading, buying and renting through iTunes, Google Play Store...are so common that we start questioning why we even used cd's, dvd's or blu-ray disks to begin with.

About two years after Apple hasn't got a Mac anymore with internal ODD, you will see that PC brands will also stop with offering an internal ODD.
It's just a repetition of what happend with the floppy disk.


The compagnies that nowadays offer an expensive turntable that can record your vinyls to digital format will by then also offer a "legacy" CD/DVD/Blu-Ray player for the people with a huge CD/DVD/Blu-Ray collection.

 

[Toltepeceno]

The specked out 2011 mba11 cpu was down by 0.1ghz though (from 1.7 to 1.6)

Yep, they made it look on paper like it was not worth upgrading. This is what an average, non tech, person see's when considering an upgrade.

 

[Todd B.]

Wow, I lost track of time. Is it already time for the "lets post a routine report and turn it into an 'Apple is doomed' post" already?

When you have laptops and desktops that last for five or six years, you're not going to upgrade for a while. It's not the end of the world, people.. though I'm sure the tech blogs will do their best to make it seem like it.

 

[needfx]

Yep, they made it look on paper like it was not worth upgrading. This is what an average, non tech, person see's when considering an upgrade.

of course it does, even techy people like us see it like that

at this point I would not pay to upgrade my MBA just for the intel 5000 (so I can connect two TB displays..). the cpu is marginally downgraded (maybe for energy consumption).

the only thing that made me consider an upgrade was the 8Gb ram option, but I think my MBA is holding up very well for now apart from a blasted speaker which I have yet to take it in