Mac sales jump 16.4%, help PC market return to growth in 3Q 2009
Led by the strength of the Mac, worldwide PC sales grew 2.3 percent year over year in the third quarter of 2009, bringing to an end three consecutive quarters of decline.
New statistics released by research firm IDC Thursday show that the worldwide PC sales slump turned a corner in the third quarter. The company has forecast that it was only the start, with double-digit gains expected in the industry through 2013.
Significantly outpacing the rest of the industry was Apple's lineup of Macs. The company had already noted in October that its record-setting third-quarter sales topped 3 million.
IDC Worldwide PC Tracker Research Analyst Jay Chou told AppleInsider 1.7 million of those sales were in the U.S., representing a 9.8 percent increase. Globally, the Mac saw a 16.4 percent increase when compared to the third quarter of 2008.
"In either case, they outperformed the total market quite well, and (it) shows a testament to their unique ability to market to a loyal audience even in tough times," Chou said.
After three straight quarters of decline, the overall PC market grew based on back-to-school and holiday demand, the firm said. Now, PC makers are attempting to position themselves strongly as the market begins to recover, embracing thin designs, touchscreens, and LED panels.
"The technology changes and efforts to stand out in an increasingly commoditized market will lead to further product and customer segmentation," Chou said, "and add to the advantage of market leaders in covering the breadth of products, technologies and market segments."
Half of the total market is represented by emerging markets. Those territories include parts of Latin America, Central/Eastern Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Those markets are expected to lead the way starting in 2010 with double-digit growth.
IDC has predicted that desktop shipments will remain flat, while portables will see an 18.1 percent increase and will drive overall gains. In the second half of 2010, the lagging commercial sector is also predicted to pick up, as there are now hints that IT spending is set to return.
*Forecast data. PC Shipments By Region And Form Factor, 2008-2013 (Shipments in millions). Source: IDC
Mac sales beyond the third quarter, in October and November, have been projected to increase 21 percent, meaning Apple has likely maintained its momentum headed into the holidays. Apple is expected by some analysts to sell at least 3 million Macs this quarter.
Desktop Mac sales in particular have grown since the new iMacs, which helped the segment grow 74 percent. Portable Macs saw a 5 percent increase in October and November.
In October, the 21.5-inch iMac was the best-selling desktop, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro the best-selling laptop in the U.S. The 27-inch iMac was the third-best-selling desktop for the month, and Apple took four of the top 10 positions for notebook sales.
New statistics released by research firm IDC Thursday show that the worldwide PC sales slump turned a corner in the third quarter. The company has forecast that it was only the start, with double-digit gains expected in the industry through 2013.
Significantly outpacing the rest of the industry was Apple's lineup of Macs. The company had already noted in October that its record-setting third-quarter sales topped 3 million.
IDC Worldwide PC Tracker Research Analyst Jay Chou told AppleInsider 1.7 million of those sales were in the U.S., representing a 9.8 percent increase. Globally, the Mac saw a 16.4 percent increase when compared to the third quarter of 2008.
"In either case, they outperformed the total market quite well, and (it) shows a testament to their unique ability to market to a loyal audience even in tough times," Chou said.
After three straight quarters of decline, the overall PC market grew based on back-to-school and holiday demand, the firm said. Now, PC makers are attempting to position themselves strongly as the market begins to recover, embracing thin designs, touchscreens, and LED panels.
"The technology changes and efforts to stand out in an increasingly commoditized market will lead to further product and customer segmentation," Chou said, "and add to the advantage of market leaders in covering the breadth of products, technologies and market segments."
Half of the total market is represented by emerging markets. Those territories include parts of Latin America, Central/Eastern Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Those markets are expected to lead the way starting in 2010 with double-digit growth.
IDC has predicted that desktop shipments will remain flat, while portables will see an 18.1 percent increase and will drive overall gains. In the second half of 2010, the lagging commercial sector is also predicted to pick up, as there are now hints that IT spending is set to return.
*Forecast data. PC Shipments By Region And Form Factor, 2008-2013 (Shipments in millions). Source: IDC
Mac sales beyond the third quarter, in October and November, have been projected to increase 21 percent, meaning Apple has likely maintained its momentum headed into the holidays. Apple is expected by some analysts to sell at least 3 million Macs this quarter.
Desktop Mac sales in particular have grown since the new iMacs, which helped the segment grow 74 percent. Portable Macs saw a 5 percent increase in October and November.
In October, the 21.5-inch iMac was the best-selling desktop, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro the best-selling laptop in the U.S. The 27-inch iMac was the third-best-selling desktop for the month, and Apple took four of the top 10 positions for notebook sales.
Comments
Led by the strength of the Mac, worldwide PC sales grew 2.3 percent year over year in the third quarter of 2009, bringing to an end three consecutive quarters of decline.
All so much larger the class action will be against those eye killing glossy/reflective screens...
ok, I'll shut up now.
If you read this Steve, thank you for at least bringing back the matte 15" MacBook Pro.
Yea I know, how long remains to be seen...
Hope more ppl discover the 27" iMac.
I'm sure enjoying my new iMac i7! My partner came home from work yesterday and said can no stand large PC monitor at work. Using a Mac makes anything else seem like stale rotten garbage.
Hope more ppl discover the 27" iMac.
Been there, done that.
It was a Dual G5 PowerMac with dual 30" monitors.
One right above the other, so all I had to do was look up slightly.
I killed many years in front of that glorious machine that could run 2 3D games at once, one on each monitor. RAID 0 for a boot drive too, could boot in as little as a few seconds.
And I could service it, remove and install hard drives, video cards at will.
I sold it as soon as I found out about the Intel switch, since it's lost considerable value shortly after that.
Boy, the news just keeps getting worse and worse for the trolls and Apple haters who hover around this forum like flies around around a bull's scrotum. I'm just saying.
Oh.. the matte-screen, blu-ray, psystar-loving huggers will come out of their parent's basement soon enough.
I've been using my new i7 iMac for a full week now. It's an incredible piece of engineering. Glossy screen, non-issue. Blu-Ray, don't care. Commodity parts, irrelevant. It runs WinXP in VMware wickedly fast. OSX, beautiful. Everything just works. The build quality and polish is second to none.
It's a sad state of affairs that the Wintel industry, after all these years, can't get their act together to make a machine so consumer friendly and polished like Apple. For the critics that complain about the so-called "premium" being paid for Apple machines, they just refuse to see where the money goes.
Way to go Apple! Praise given to them for not listening to the critics on how they would run Apple.
Boy, the news just keeps getting worse and worse for the trolls and Apple haters who hover around this forum like flies around around a bull's scrotum. I'm just saying.
These forums have been better as of late. AI mods seem to be cracking down on them. Maybe as a holiday gift to us.
It's a sad state of affairs that the Wintel industry, after all these years, can't get their act together to make a machine so consumer friendly and polished like Apple. For the critics that complain about the so-called "premium" being paid for Apple machines, they just refuse to see where the money goes.
Way to go Apple! Praise given to them for not listening to the critics on how they would run Apple.
There are some nice models from other vendors. None work for me because it's still running Windows and they tend to cost quite a bit more than an equivalent Mac, likely due to a complete lack of sales volume, but at least they are trying.
I hope Apple will follow some of theor trends with next year's MBP release. I think we're going to see the most radical case change since the unibody introduction.
I don't know why anyone would want a screen that large. My work PC with its 8MB Rage 128 video card is able to display up to three web pages at once on it's 9-year old 17" display!
You obviously like your web pages to look like columns from a newspaper. I can't stand web pages that narrow. Two word processing documents side by size works better, but on a 20" display the text is a bit too small for my middle aged eyes if I display full pages.
At work I have two 1650x1080 displays on top of each other giving me and effective work area of 1650x2160. Menu bar at the top of the upper display, Dock along the right hand side, Adium list on the right hand side of the lower display. I find it far easier to look up or down a bit than to cope with two wide screens sitting side by side.
I did try having the menu bar down the middle (at the top of the lower display), but some windows really didn't like being dragged through the menu bar and things got messed up if I unplugged the external display to take the MBP to a meeting.
Oh.. the matte-screen, blu-ray, psystar-loving huggers will come out of their parent's basement soon enough.
We just got a bunch of new iMacs at work. I sat in front of a 27" one and had to move back until I was a metre away before the reflection of my white shirt against the black mesh chair stopped being a serious distraction.
I'm not a big fan of matte displays, but at least I can't see myself in them.
Boy, the news just keeps getting worse and worse for the trolls and Apple haters who hover around this forum like flies around around a bull's scrotum. I'm just saying.
If the haters are the flies and the forum is the scrotum, what are the Apple lovers? Bull pubic hairs? Bull spermatazoa? The gonads themselves?
We just got a bunch of new iMacs at work. I sat in front of a 27" one and had to move back until I was a metre away before the reflection of my white shirt against the black mesh chair stopped being a serious distraction.
I'm not a big fan of matte displays, but at least I can't see myself in them.
One common solution is to that problem is to turn the machine on.
One common solution is to that problem is to turn the machine on.
One common solution is to that problem is to turn the machine on.
Good post! That one even got Cranky laughing. Loving my 27-inch i7 even when it's off.
MobileMe (Steve Jobs wanna be and personal Apple evangelist) should have a field day or mental breakdown with how Google is now the anti christ and more evil than Microsoft if that is even possible in his/her eyes...
AI really needs to add a second shift. This is already old news on the rest of the tech blogs. I'm kind of thinking they opened their check book a little earlier than Apple but time will tell. Apple really needs their own mapping solution and it appears Google is buying all the options.
http://gizmodo.com/5429307/google-re...ks-to-buy-yelp
Techcrunch hears that Google is in advanced talks to buy Yelp (supposedly for $500 million), and that the deal, while not finalized, is very close to that stage. This could be a huge boon for Google's mapping and mobile efforts.
This is a little bit odd because Google already has Places, which is a fairly similar (and actually quite good) service to Yelp—but Yelp is the biggest crowdsourced directory out there, and intimate mingling with Maps could make it all the more powerful. This is unconfirmed as of now, but we'll keep you updated if we hear anything else. [TechCrunch]
...And eliminating glossy screen - sales will rocket even MORE!
I believe Steve just hold it to have a room to grow.
One common solution is to that problem is to turn the machine on.
What if I have a plain black desktop? Or viewed website has a black background? Or watching any movie (there are lot of dark movies these days)?
Glossy screen is THE ONLY reason for me to NOT buy iMac. I'm dreaming about iMac!
Google to buy Yelp? A couple Million here, a Couple Million There buys a lot of really smart people.
MobileMe (Steve Jobs wanna be and personal Apple evangelist) should have a field day or mental breakdown with how Google is now the anti christ and more evil than Microsoft if that is even possible in his/her eyes...
AI really needs to add a second shift. This is already old news on the rest of the tech blogs. I'm kind of thinking they opened their check book a little earlier than Apple but time will tell. Apple really needs their own mapping solution and it appears Google is buying all the options.
http://gizmodo.com/5429307/google-re...ks-to-buy-yelp
Techcrunch hears that Google is in advanced talks to buy Yelp (supposedly for $500 million), and that the deal, while not finalized, is very close to that stage. This could be a huge boon for Google's mapping and mobile efforts.
This is a little bit odd because Google already has Places, which is a fairly similar (and actually quite good) service to Yelp?but Yelp is the biggest crowdsourced directory out there, and intimate mingling with Maps could make it all the more powerful. This is unconfirmed as of now, but we'll keep you updated if we hear anything else. [TechCrunch]
Err, Apple bought PlaceBase recently to bolster their mapping app.
If the haters are the flies and the forum is the scrotum, what are the Apple lovers? Bull pubic hairs? Bull spermatazoa? The gonads themselves?
Apple is the dog's bollocks, obviously (not sure if this works outside the UK...).
I wish Apple still offered a 17" iMac
They do. $599 for a Mac Mini and the 17" monitor of your choice.