Mac business sales surge 51% as Apple continues to invade the enterprise

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014


Mac business sales grew a massive 50.9 percent at the end of 2011, easily outpacing Apple's market leading overall growth in Mac sales.



In a closer look at Mac sales, analyst Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company revealed in a note to investors on Monday that sales in the business market represented 20.5 percent of total Mac sales in the December quarter. But business sales accounted for 34.9 percent of year-over-year total shipment growth for the Mac platform.



Apple now represents 2.9 percent of total business PC sales worldwide, more than double its share of 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010. But Apple's presence in the enterprise is even greater in the U.S., hitting 5.8 percent in the December quarter, up from 3.1 percent in the first quarter of 2010.



Wolf said Apple has continuously added features to OS X to make it integrate more seamlessly into Microsoft's network environment. One key step in that process was the introduction of BootCamp in 2006, allowing Intel-based Macs to run Windows.



Other key additions were third-party virtualization software from Parallels and VMWare which allow users to run Windows applications natively alongside Mac applications, as well as Microsoft's additions to Exchange to offer better Mac support.



"But these developments merely set the table," Wolf said. "They did not provide a compelling reason for businesses to purchase Macs."











In his view, the credit belongs to the iPhone and, even more, the iPad. By becoming acquainted with Apple's products, businesses have looked more favorably on the company's tightly integrated ecosystem.



Even with faster growth in the enterprise, Mac sales to users at home remains by far Apple's largest market segment. Home Mac sales represented 63 percent of total Mac sales in the December quarter, while business sales accounted for 21 percent. Education was 15 percent of Mac sales, while government took 1 percent.











Wolf has closely followed Mac sales in the enterprise for some time now, and declared last May that Apple's huge inroads made in the business market have made the Mac's presence in the corporate world a "durable platform" for the company.



Mac enterprise sales largely stagnated between 2007 and 2009. But in 2010 -- the same year the iPad debuted -- the trend reversed, and Apple has seen two straight years of tremendous growth in the enterprise.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 64
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    The only Macs I've seen in my (large) business are the ones people buy to write the custom iPad apps everyone's hankering for. I haven't seen them actually used to do day-to-day business, but rather to support the rest of Apple's ecosystem.
  • Reply 2 of 64
    This is just getting started. 1) China and India. 2) Enterprise.
  • Reply 3 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    The only Macs I've seen in my (large) business are the ones people buy to write the custom iPad apps everyone's hankering for. I haven't seen them actually used to do day-to-day business, but rather to support the rest of Apple's ecosystem.



    Otherwise called "the Halo effect".
  • Reply 4 of 64
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    This is why those stating the Law of Big Numbers is about to prevent Apple getting to $1,000 a share are wrong IMHO. The LBN is applicable only when a company has or has almost reached saturation of its market. Apple have barely scratched the surface of its markets and note that is 'markets' with the possible exception of iPods.
  • Reply 5 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    This is why those stating the Law of Big Numbers is about to prevent Apple getting to $1,000 a share are wrong IMHO. The LBN is applicable only when a company has or has almost reached saturation of its market. Apple have barely scratched the surface of its markets and note that is 'markets' with the possible exception of iPods.



    They want you to sell so they can buy a larger stake.



    It will surpass 1k.
  • Reply 6 of 64
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    I'd like to see Apple buy Parallels or Fusion and incorporate their technology into the MacOS X 10.9 ("Nittany Lion"). That would knock down some of the last barriers to the use of Macs in the Enterprise.
  • Reply 7 of 64
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    The only Macs I've seen in my (large) business are the ones people buy to write the custom iPad apps everyone's hankering for. I haven't seen them actually used to do day-to-day business, but rather to support the rest of Apple's ecosystem.



    It is still early days for Macs. There will come a point in time when iOS and OS X are so ubiquitous in day to day use for the majority of people it will make more sense for folks not to have to cope with using Windows at work. Especially as Apple merge more and more of iOS and OS X and at the same time Microsoft go off on another tangent with their OS desktop metaphor and try to get XP users to enter the 21st Century. Then we will see the ... 'if I am going to have to change from Windows I may as well buy Apple products as everyone is familiar with them' ... start to kick in.
  • Reply 8 of 64
    I think they still need to overcome the entrenched opinions of many IT departments. At my last company, a Fortune 500 company, the IT department would block absolutely anything Apple (no iPhones using the WiFi, no iPads, absolutely no Macs) all on the grounds of "security" and "supportability".



    Not knowing the slightest thing about setting up a corporate network, I pretty much trusted what they told me and that it would obviously be costly and difficult to support Macs and PC's. I've since moved to a different company, and have been stunned by how well Macs, Windows PCs, Linux PCs etc. seem to work together.



    I'm forced to conclude that either my new company has smarter IT folks, or my old company had lazy IT folks. I suspect the later.
  • Reply 9 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    I'd like to see Apple buy Parallels or Fusion and incorporate their technology into the MacOS X 10.9 ("Nittany Lion"). That would knock down some of the last barriers to the use of Macs in the Enterprise.



    thats just what businesses need. a mac to support and windows on the same machine. its hard enough to support one os and users who can't deal with one, let alone 2 OSs.

    if you can't do without a windows machine for work, then stick with windows. no sense wasting more money on a mac.
  • Reply 10 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    The only Macs I've seen in my (large) business are the ones people buy to write the custom iPad apps everyone's hankering for. I haven't seen them actually used to do day-to-day business, but rather to support the rest of Apple's ecosystem.



    exactly... outside of our design stations they also used for app production. why the insignificant 2.9%



    anyone that says they would deploy Macs for an entire Enterprise is one of the iOS kids that have never managed a business.
  • Reply 11 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson View Post


    I think they still need to overcome the entrenched opinions of many IT departments. At my last company, a Fortune 500 company, the IT department would block absolutely anything Apple (no iPhones using the WiFi, no iPads, absolutely no Macs) all on the grounds of "security" and "supportability".



    Not knowing the slightest thing about setting up a corporate network, I pretty much trusted what they told me and that it would obviously be costly and difficult to support Macs and PC's. I've since moved to a different company, and have been stunned by how well Macs, Windows PCs, Linux PCs etc. seem to work together.



    I'm forced to conclude that either my new company has smarter IT folks, or my old company had lazy IT folks. I suspect the later.



    every user has an opinion about IT support. there are many factors why some businesses would go with a mix or some win only or mac only. i will say the 'no apple products at all' is extreme.
  • Reply 12 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by screamingfist View Post


    thats just what businesses needs. a mac to support and windows. its hard enough to support one os and users who can't deal with one, let alone 2 OSs.

    if you can't do without a windows machine for work, then stick with windows. no sense wasting more money on a mac.



    I politely disagree. I have parallels running on my Mac (though once I get round to buying AutoCAD for Mac it will go) and it runs fine. I don't really see it as any more effort for the geeks. They can either support Windows and Mac, or they can't. If they can support Windows (and they can, since some people use Windows PC's), it doesn't seem to make any difference to them if they are solving a Windows problem on a Windows box, or in Parallels.
  • Reply 13 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson View Post


    I politely disagree. I have parallels running on my Mac (though once I get round to buying AutoCAD for Mac it will go) and it runs fine. I don't really see it as any more effort for the geeks. They can either support Windows and Mac, or they can't. If they can support Windows (and they can, since some people use Windows PC's), it doesn't seem to make any difference to them if they are solving a Windows problem on a Windows box, or in Parallels.



    why should the company waste money on supporting double problems per person? it makes no financial IT sense to have 400 OSs to support when you only need 200 or 2000 when you only need 1000.
  • Reply 14 of 64
    The impossible happens as Macs are now storming the gates of Redmond.



    27% of portable computing.



    Critical mass just around the corner?



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 15 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson View Post


    I politely disagree. I have parallels running on my Mac (though once I get round to buying AutoCAD for Mac it will go) and it runs fine. I don't really see it as any more effort for the geeks. They can either support Windows and Mac, or they can't. If they can support Windows (and they can, since some people use Windows PC's), it doesn't seem to make any difference to them if they are solving a Windows problem on a Windows box, or in Parallels.



    its not so simple as 'they support windows or mac, or they can't'. the problem with most Mac users is the whole 'I, me, mine'.
  • Reply 16 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    This is why those stating the Law of Big Numbers is about to prevent Apple getting to $1,000 a share are wrong IMHO. The LBN is applicable only when a company has or has almost reached saturation of its market. Apple have barely scratched the surface of its markets and note that is 'markets' with the possible exception of iPods.



    I'm not sure that you want to bring up the LBN in this context, because Macs in the enterprise consist in very small numbers, As such, one expects that any data point, like the one in this story, is more likely to be an outlier. Using the LBN, one would expect any particular quarter to diverge when dealing with such small numbers. Only after the Mac attains big numbers can we expect one quarter to be converging on the mean.
  • Reply 17 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by screamingfist View Post


    why should the company waste money on supporting double problems per person? it makes no financial IT sense to have 400 OSs to support when you only need 200 or 2000 when you only need 1000.



    If the person is more efficient when using one or the other, the additional costs of support are easily overcome.
  • Reply 18 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    This is why those stating the Law of Big Numbers is about to prevent Apple getting to $1,000 a share are wrong IMHO. The LBN is applicable only when a company has or has almost reached saturation of its market. Apple have barely scratched the surface of its markets and note that is 'markets' with the possible exception of iPods.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    I'm not sure that you want to bring up the LBN in this context, because Macs in the enterprise consist in very small numbers, As such, one expects that any data point, like the one in this story, is more likely to be an outlier. Using the LBN, one would expect any particular quarter to diverge when dealing with such small numbers. Only after the Mac attains big numbers can we expect one quarter to be converging on the mean.



    Although this is cited often in finance circles, the application of the Law of Large Numbers to analysis of the AAPL stock and their market share is completely wrong in the first place. That's not what the law is about. Not close.
  • Reply 19 of 64
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by agramonte View Post


    exactly... outside of our design stations they also used for app production. why the insignificant 2.9%



    anyone that says they would deploy Macs for an entire Enterprise is one of the iOS kids that have never managed a business.



    Back in the late 1970s and early 80s as my company supplied and trained for personal computing in many large enterprises it was amazing how many similar comments were made about moving on from main frame terminal use. I'm sure when the main frames came in those same comments were made about adding machine. Short sightedness is one quality, sadly, all too prevalent in those who manage businesses.
  • Reply 20 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson View Post


    If the person is more efficient when using one or the other, the additional costs of support are easily overcome.



    those people are rare and apple is selling more to former home windows users so you get a LOT of 'i just bought a mac how do i blah, blah,blah,'

    you expect a business to shell out money to train someone to do the same job they were already doing on an OS that they already know how to use?
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