Mac's worldwide market share reaches 15-year high at 5%

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Fueled by strong gains in Asia Pacific during the September quarter, Apple saw its worldwide share of the PC market pass the 5 percent mark for the first time in 15 years, according to a new analysis.



Analyst Charlie Wolf of Needham & Co. informed investors on Wednesday that Mac shipment growth in the third quarter of calendar 2011 outpaced the PC market for the 22nd straight quarter. Apple's 24.6 percent growth dwarfed the 5.3 percent growth in total PC shipments.



The Cupertino, Calif., Mac maker posted record Mac sales of 4.89 million for the period. According to Wolf, that was enough to push Apple past the "magic 5 percent mark," up from 4.7 percent in June and 4.4 percent a year ago.



"More impressively, the growth in Mac shipments in the past year represented 20% of the growth in worldwide PC shipments," he said. To further put things into perspective, Wolf noted that Apple's September quarter Mac shipments exceeded annual Mac shipments for all years prior to 2006.



Source: Needham/IDC



Mac shipments significantly outperformed PCs in both the home and business markets. Apple saw 25.6 percent growth in the home market, compared to an overall increase of just 4.0 percent. When comparing dollar share, the Mac took up a 14 percent share of the worldwide home PC market, more than double its current market share.



Shipments to the business market were an impressive nine times the market pace: 43.8 percent versus 4.8 percent. Wolf suggested that the past six quarters of strong Mac shipment growth in the business market reflect the beginning of a trend for Apple. He attributes the upward swing to halo effects from the iPad and iPhone, both of which saw quick adoption in the enterprise.



According to one recent report, the business market is more readily adopting Apple products because it has become "easier to work with." CEO Tim Cook is said to be more willing to work with enterprise customers than his predecessor Steve Jobs.



Source: Needham/IDC



Apple did not, however, perform as well in the education and government markets. The company posted just 2.9 percent growth in Mac shipments to education customers for the quarter, compared to 16.9 percent for the PC market. Meanwhile, government was the only area where Apple saw a decline in Mac shipments, though the drop was just 0.6 percent.



Wolf attributed the Mac's poor performance in the education market to cannibalization of Mac sales by the iPad. According to Apple, iPad sales in June surpassed Mac sales in the K-12 education market.



Asia Pacific represented the fastest-growing geographic region for Apple with 57.2 percent growth for the quarter. Japan saw the second-highest growth of 49.6 percent. The company also achieved impressive growth of 19.5 percent in Europe when compared to the rest of the market's 10.7 percent contraction in the region.



The analyst went on to infer that China was the "key driver of growth" for Asia Pacific. Greater China became Apple's second-largest market last quarter with record sales of $4.5 billion.



"The growth of Apple?s sales in China represents a perfect storm between an iconic brand and a rapidly growing middle class that?s more brand conscious than consumers in most other regions of the globe," said Wolf.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 42
    I'd love to see a per-country list. Switzerland's at 15%, I believe, with the US not far behind.
  • Reply 2 of 42
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    It is just too bad it is mostly laptops. With a decent desktop lineup they could double those growth figures.
  • Reply 3 of 42
    On its way to 10%.



    The valuation consequences will be enormous.



    The sleeper growth opportunity that Apple has is the Mac. I am not sure that the market fully appreciates this yet.
  • Reply 4 of 42
    Don't look at it as a pathetic amount of market share. Think of it as plenty of room to grow.



    At this rate it might take ten more years to break 10% market share. Let's face it. Windows will forever be the most prolific desktop OS in the world. That's a rather amazing history for Microsoft Windows. No wonder Wall Street disrespects Apple when comparing it to something as rock steady as Windows use.
  • Reply 5 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    Windows will forever be the most prolific desktop OS in the world.



    'Forever' is a meaninglessly long amount of time. Windows will be nothing but a blip in the history of pre-wetware computing. The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created.
  • Reply 6 of 42
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    It is just too bad it is mostly laptops. With a decent desktop lineup they could double those growth figures.



    Apple's only growing so fast because of their integrated machines, not because of the DiYer homebrew PCs of yesteryear. The only desktops you can expect from Apple's future are AIOs and minis using notebook-grade components.
  • Reply 7 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    'Forever' is a meaninglessly long amount of time. Windows will be nothing but a blip in the history of pre-wetware computing. The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created.



    Now that's what I call positive thinking!
  • Reply 8 of 42
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    'Forever' is a meaninglessly long amount of time. Windows will be nothing but a blip in the history of pre-wetware computing. The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created.



    You started so wise and ended so dumb.



    The companies that will "rule" the computing world (if there even will be such a concept) in 50 years do not yet exist.
  • Reply 9 of 42
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member
    The Mac Pro is probably not a strong in these figures. Although the Mac Pro is a really nice Desktop it seems to have lower than expected sales from what I have seen. Wonder is Apple will redesign the Desktop such as the Mac Pro into a more competitive unit. As it sits right now the Mac Pro has one purpose and that is to crunch big numbers. Bigger than anything else in the inventory of Apple.
  • Reply 10 of 42
    geekdadgeekdad Posts: 1,131member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    'Forever' is a meaninglessly long amount of time. Windows will be nothing but a blip in the history of pre-wetware computing. The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created.



    You are just a wealth of useless information! But you are good for at least a good quote a month!

    I will add this to the ever growing quote list in my sig!
  • Reply 11 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    Let's face it. Windows Mobile will forever be the most prolific mobile OS in the world. That's a rather amazing history for Microsoft Windows. No wonder Wall Street disrespects Apple when comparing it to something as rock steady as Windows Mobile use.



    "Forever be the most prolific". Whew. For a moment there, I was worried.
  • Reply 12 of 42
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    It is just too bad it is mostly laptops. With a decent desktop lineup they could double those growth figures.



    What? The iMac is not a decent desktop? I can't think of a desktop to beat it. I don't consider the Mac Pro a desktop - more a work station. The Mini is a desktop, I guess, but afaik not a huge seller.
  • Reply 13 of 42
    geekdadgeekdad Posts: 1,131member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    'Forever' is a meaninglessly long amount of time. Windows will be nothing but a blip in the history of pre-wetware computing. The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created.



    Didn't you also say the Google was going to collapse? See my sig for your quote! So which is it??? Google is going to collapse or Google is the future???
  • Reply 14 of 42
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    Don't look at it as a pathetic amount of market share. Think of it as plenty of room to grow.



    At this rate it might take ten more years to break 10% market share. Let's face it. Windows will forever be the most prolific desktop OS in the world. That's a rather amazing history for Microsoft Windows. No wonder Wall Street disrespects Apple when comparing it to something as rock steady as Windows use.



    This isn't entirely fair. You can't expect Apple to outpace all of the other oems combined especially when they choose not to address certain price points. If this was graphed by individual oems and market share, it would look much different.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Apple's only growing so fast because of their integrated machines, not because of the DiYer homebrew PCs of yesteryear. The only desktops you can expect from Apple's future are AIOs and minis using notebook-grade components.



    Yeah.... I agree . They've been trying to push people away from the mac pros for several years now. This way if they do decide to kill them, it minimizes the impact.
  • Reply 15 of 42
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    'Forever' is a meaninglessly long amount of time. Windows will be nothing but a blip in the history of pre-wetware computing. The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created.



    You are the dramatic of these forums You should hone your writing skills ('Forever' is a meaninglessly long amount of time = bad sentence), and instead write a sci-fi novel. I am intrigued by this third yet to be formed company. I imagine it will be a very evil entity.
  • Reply 16 of 42
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmm View Post


    Yeah.... I agree . They've been trying to push people away from the mac pros for several years now. This way if they do decide to kill them, it minimizes the impact.



    I think that is the wrong way to look at it. Their consumers are choosing to move away from their towers which in turn makes it less compelling for Apple to maintain the product line.
  • Reply 17 of 42
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    At this rate it might take ten more years to break 10% market share. Let's face it. Windows will forever be the most prolific desktop OS in the world. That's a rather amazing history for Microsoft Windows.



    It is a rather amazing history for Windows but it depends on your me sure of success. If Apple achieves a 10% world wide market share it will be massive in terms of valuation, given that they stick to their proven business model (margins!)

    Quote:

    No wonder Wall Street disrespects Apple when comparing it to something as rock steady as Windows use.



    Wall Street needs to learn to respect Apple if you are right about the 10%!
  • Reply 18 of 42
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by paxman View Post


    What? The iMac is not a decent desktop? I can't think of a desktop to beat it. I don't consider the Mac Pro a desktop - more a work station. The Mini is a desktop, I guess, but afaik not a huge seller.



    Jumping to macs last year was the best move I ever did in my time management aspect of work. I use iMacs as the desktop and a mini as a server for my small side Job/startup. It's incredibly effective for something do little. I'm not a mini fan though except for a server.



    But the iMac... I actually can't believe people still buy MacBooks when you could have a faster 27" iMac at the same price or less. Then just get an iPad and be mobile.
  • Reply 19 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tylerk36 View Post




    The Mac Pro is probably not a strong in these figures. Although the Mac Pro is a really nice Desktop it seems to have lower than expected sales from what I have seen. Wonder is Apple will redesign the Desktop such as the Mac Pro into a more competitive unit. As it sits right now the Mac Pro has one purpose and that is to crunch big numbers. Bigger than anything else in the inventory of Apple.



    I don't consider the Mac Pro a "desktop" at all... it's more of a workstation.



    You could do the same comparison between HP's cheap computers you can buy everywhere... and their workstation line.



    I don't know HP's numbers... but I'm pretty sure they sell more back-to-school laptops than workstations. I'd imagine it's the same for the Mac Pro.



    I hope Apple doesn't cancel the Mac Pro... it does have its uses.
  • Reply 20 of 42
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post


    But the iMac... I actually can't believe people still buy MacBooks when you could have a faster 27" iMac at the same price or less. Then just get an iPad and be mobile.



    Um, some people need a portable solution, and the new MBP's are no slouches in the performance department. And there are those who have desktops, laptops and iPads. Each has it's uses.
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