Gartner: Apple's Mac market share slips to fifth in US

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple dropped slightly to fifth place in rankings of US computer sales during the fourth quarter of 2006, according to preliminary Gartner data obtained by AppleInsider.



The Mac maker fell a full percentage point to 5.1 percent of the domestic market between the third and fourth quarters of the year, trading places with Toshiba, which climbed from 5.1 to 5.3 percent. Apple remained out of the top five in the world rankings, but a similar set of data released by IDC on Wednesday puts its international share at 2.4 percent.



Shipments of Macs in the U.S. also dipped significantly from 975,000 US systems to 808,000, indicating a genuine slowdown in sales for the Cupertino-based company following a stellar back-to-school quarter. Dell remains in command of US sales at 29.1 percent but is bleeding rapidly, having lost 3.1 of its share. Most of this was gained by Hewett Packard, which jumped from 23 to 25.3 percent, Gartner said.



In spite of the seeming downturn, Apple nevertheless maintained the highest year-over-year growth of any of the top five computer builders operating in the Americans, soaring 30.6 percent compared to Toshiba's gain of 22.3 percent over the same timeframe.



Gartner also noted that the US climate for PC sales was especially harsh: total shipments for the year actually sank 3.2 percent compared to 2005, with Dell suffering the worst losses as it gave up a staggering 17.3 percent. The overall market at home and abroad suffered in large part due to competition with hot-selling electronics such as flat-panel TVs and the Nintendo Wii, Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said. PC makers were also forced to cut prices to spur interest in their systems for buyers who would otherwise have waited for Windows Vista.



"PC price erosion was a defining feature of the quarter," Kitagawa said.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 119
    mugwumpmugwump Posts: 233member
    Actual mac sales were lower than this number. How does this compare to previous Gartner announcements?
  • Reply 2 of 119
    Here's a simple way for Mac to increase its share: Lower its price.



    PC prices are dropping so dramatically that substitution to a Mac makes no economic sense for many PC users.



    On the other hand, if Apple does not want to lower prices, it should consider creating iLife for Vista/XP, and charge them $199 a pop.
  • Reply 3 of 119
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Here's a simple way for Mac to increase its share: Lower its price.



    PC prices are dropping so dramatically that substitution to a Mac makes no economic sense for many PC users.



    On the other hand, if Apple does not want to lower prices, it should consider creating iLife for Vista/XP, and charge them $199 a pop.



    This the best post i've read in a while on this forum!
  • Reply 4 of 119
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Here's a simple way for Mac to increase its share: Lower its price.



    PC prices are dropping so dramatically that substitution to a Mac makes no economic sense for many PC users.



    On the other hand, if Apple does not want to lower prices, it should consider creating iLife for Vista/XP, and charge them $199 a pop.



    That is actually a fantastic idea.
  • Reply 5 of 119
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    I'm really confused. The following was reported yesterday.



    Quote:

    During the quarter, Apple shipped 1,606,000 Macintosh computers and 21,066,000 iPods, representing 28 percent growth in Macs and 50 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.



    How does this change to 808,000 in this report??????
  • Reply 6 of 119
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    How does this change to 808,000 in this report??????



    America ≠ Whole World
  • Reply 7 of 119
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    America ? Whole World



    Thanks. Didn't appreciate this report was US only.
  • Reply 8 of 119
    hankx32hankx32 Posts: 121member
    I hope the price of apple stock keeps tumbling, because i want to buy more of it. I have set a price target of $300 in three years from now. Everybody is buying Macs. Windows is big trouble....
  • Reply 9 of 119
    This report (not the AI article but the source report) is very misleading. It took me some digging to figure out and maybe some of you are having the same confusion I did...



    I read articles and listened to part of the Apple earnings report and the Apple guys made a point of saying that Apple's growth was much higher that the rest of the computer industry so lowering prices was not necessary. Which made sense to me. If the Mac market share is increasing, why bother?



    Then I read this report and I was baffled. How can Apple have growth rates much higher than the rest of the industry and lose marketshare or drop in sales ranking? Now maybe you guys all understood this, but I didn't.



    Apparently the these numbers are a snapshot and not absolute. For example...Apple's sales were up over 30% over the year ago quarter, *but* the sales for this most recent quarter were still not high enough to keep them at fourth on the list *or* keep their marketshare the same. For *this* quarter.



    However, with growth rates higher that the PC industry as a whole, Mac marketshare in still increasing. You just can't see it with the numbers for *this* particular period.



    Now if we have a financial analyst on the board who needs to correct me. As I said, I was baffled and I'm not totally sure but its my best shot at it.



    Come to think of it, my title is not fair. I don't think the report was misleading. I just didn't get it.
  • Reply 10 of 119
    Now that people have bought their flat screen TV's and Wii's, they can focus on a computer next (esp. with Vista and Leopard coming soon). What is Apple's plan for MacBook and MBP updates in the near future?
  • Reply 11 of 119
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    I'm a bit upset by this news. I figured Apple would have pushed into 3rd place by this 2nd quarter, and definitely didn't think they would fall down to 5th.
  • Reply 12 of 119
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wayland.ind View Post


    This the best post i've read in a while on this forum!



    Gee, thanks! (That includes Spamsandwich too).

  • Reply 13 of 119
    PC buyers as a mass remain as lemmings or sheep. And, this PC phenomnon is something akin to the urban legend that turkeys will accidentally drown themselves by looking toward the clouds and opening their beaks for a drink during a rainfall.



    Just this week, a friend took a long time to bemoan having to run various anti-virus and spyware cleansing apps on her PC. She asked me what I do about this. I told her I use a Mac (which she knows) and that I do nothing. She responded with an "oh, well" as if owning a Mac is something impossible for her to do. Meanwhile, she suffers self-proclaimed agony of PC life. Maybe I just don't understand the wonderfulness of owning a PC.
  • Reply 14 of 119
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Here's a simple way for Mac to increase its share: Lower its price.



    PC prices are dropping so dramatically that substitution to a Mac makes no economic sense for many PC users.



    On the other hand, if Apple does not want to lower prices, it should consider creating iLife for Vista/XP, and charge them $199 a pop.



    Have you done any cross comparisons of the hardware? Apple isn't just competitively priced, it's often a bit lower than the competition. And that doesn't include all the extra goodies, user experience, and lack need for of support & security software that aren't easy quantified.



    Apple would need to create low-end machines to increase its marketshare. But does it really need to? There are a lot more Chevy Cavilars being sold than Rolls Royce Phantoms, but that doesn't mean the Cavilar is better off. If we compare the high end machines of any leading OEM you'll see that Apple has a significant marketshare.



    Creating iLife for Windows would not help Apple's longterm goal. Many swotchers get fed up with Windows. If Apple made the "Windows experience" better then people would be less likely to switch. Now, iTunes software is a different story as it helps to sell iPods and introduce people to the Mac Experience, which is a tight integration of hardware and software.
  • Reply 15 of 119
    Dumb question, how was this article posted at 12:05 am est. when it is not even 12:05 am est when I am writing this?
  • Reply 16 of 119
    dgnr8dgnr8 Posts: 196member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by archidude View Post


    Maybe I just don't understand the wonderfulness of owning a PC.



    PC = Personal Computer not windows.



    Apple Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, MacBook, iMac and MacMini = PC (Personal Computers)



    I will never understand why people refer to computers with Windows installed as PC's.
  • Reply 17 of 119
    ouraganouragan Posts: 437member
    Quote:

    Shipments of Macs in the U.S. also dipped significantly from 975,000 US systems to 808,000, indicating a genuine slowdown in sales for the Cupertino-based company following a stellar back-to-school quarter.



    PC makers were also forced to cut prices to spur interest in their systems for buyers who would otherwise have waited for Windows Vista.



    "PC price erosion was a defining feature of the quarter," Kitagawa said.



    Three things need to change before there is any Mac market share increase:



    1- Price. Price. Price. In the Christmas quarter, Apple increased its profit margin on every Mac instead of cutting down its prices like every other computer manufacturer. Why?



    2- Introduce new, cheaper office computers with no frills like the remote control. Who needs a remote control in an office?



    3- Change the TV ads. While they pamper Steve's ego, they tell us nothing of the fun, yes the fun of using a Mac for doing fantastic things.



    Right now, these TV ads just show us Steve Jobs' contempt for Windows. Who cares about Steve's feelings? Grow up or resign.



    The Mac market share will start growing the day Apple answers a simple question: Why do 95% of people choose a Windows computer?



  • Reply 18 of 119
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by archidude View Post


    Just this week, a friend took a long time to bemoan having to run various anti-virus and spyware cleansing apps on her PC. She asked me what I do about this. I told her I use a Mac (which she knows) and that I do nothing. She responded with an "oh, well" as if owning a Mac is something impossible for her to do. Meanwhile, she suffers self-proclaimed agony of PC life. Maybe I just don't understand the wonderfulness of owning a PC.



    A friend's Sony Vaio notebook wireless card stopped working. He brought it to me to fix. I tried everything... nothing worked. I knew it had to be a hardware issue and figured it was a bad circuit board. I called Sony to find out how to send it in, they asked me if the physical wi-fi switched on the front was turned on. It was not. If this was an Apple product, the software would display that the wireless card was turned off, just like when the volume and brightness changes when you depress the appropriate function keys. I've found that SOny does a decent job of engineering hardware, but has the worst software I've ever used on a Windows based computer.
  • Reply 19 of 119
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DGNR8 View Post


    PC = Personal Computer not windows.



    Apple Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, MacBook, iMac and MacMini = PC (Personal Computers)



    I will never understand why people refer to computers with Windows installed as PC's.



    I believe it was originally coined by Apple around the time of the Apple ][, but then borrowed by IBM for its DOS machine. Then around the time the Mac came around, Apple decided to differentiate itself from the IBM PC. This is where, I believe, that the PC no longer referred to a Mac. Technically, you are right, a computer that you personally use is a personal computer. But common with phrases, we often go by the accepted definition, not the prescriptivist definition of things.



    I guess you can blame Apple for coining it and then shying away from it. A more recent example is Jobs not referring to the iPhone as a PDA, despite the term being coined at Apple by the Scully. There are obviously mant reasons why jobs would not call his iPhone a PDA.
  • Reply 20 of 119
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Have you done any cross comparisons of the hardware?



    I don't know -- you tell me (since you seem to know a lot about PCs)..... the last time used a PC was in an internet cafe in Cusco, Peru.



    Also, while you are at it, perhaps you could answer the terrific question posted by ouragan (quoted in my response to him -- see below).
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