Premium-priced computer market dominated by Apple

[AppleInsider]

Macs made up a whopping 91 percent of the $1,000 and up computer market in June, up significantly from early 2008 when Apple's premium market share was 66 percent, according to new data released this week.

As first reported at Betanews, the latest sales figures from NPD Market Research show Apple with the lion's share of premium computer sales, and the Mac maker's commanding share only continues to grow. In May, Mac sales made up 88 percent of computers priced four figures.

The average computer sells for $701, but separating Windows PCs from Macs shows a huge disparity. While the average Windows machine in June sold for $515, the average Apple machine came in at $1,400.

In this economy, it's clear that price matters -- to an extent. This week, Apple reported a record third quarter, bolstered by new lower prices on its entire line of MacBooks. The company sold 2.6 million Macs during the quarter, ushering in its best-ever June quarter.

Apple sells only three products below $1,000: the 13-inch MacBook, and both versions of the Mac mini.

In June, Apple lowered the prices on its 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros by $300. It also created the 13-inch MacBook Pro for $1,199 -- a cost of $100 less than its non-Pro predecessor.

Even with its premium prices, Apple has managed to grow its market share of computers that cost $1,000 or more. This as Microsoft has taken aim at the company's prices, calling it the "Apple tax."

In terms of overall volume, Macs held an estimated 8.7 percent of the U.S. PC market through June. But according to research firm Gartner, Apple's share is growing, having grown 2.5 percent in the second quarter while the rest of the industry slid.

[Capnbob]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Macs made up a whopping 91 percent of the $1,000 and up computer market in June, up significantly from early 2008 when Apple's premium market share was 66 percent, according to new data released this week.
.

Apple is money Baby, money!

Seriously, it says a lot about the market and Apple - are only Apple buyers prepared to spend more than $1000 now (given that it is almost impossible to buy an Apple for less than $1000)? Apple is much more price and feature competitive against high-end PCs in the "light as possible" and "fashion accessory" segments so it probably has those sewn up and won't compete below $1000 - this all makes sense.

The key thing is can apple maintain its ASP and margins - from the earnings report, it seems they can do both...

Oh... first!

[philbot]

mainly due to the fact that Macs are too expensive.

Lets have a $700 headless Mac to bridge the gap between the Mini and the Mac Pro.

[FuturePastNow]

Originally Posted by Capnbob

are only Apple buyers prepared to spend more than $1000 now (given that it is almost impossible to buy an Apple for less than $1000)?

Only Apple buyers have to spend that much (if they want something other than a Mac mini, that is).

[slapppy]

Anyone can afford a Mac. Hasn't anyone heard of the technique of saving up for what you want? If you can't afford it now, save till you can. Or buy refurbish at the Apple online store.

[macFanDave]

Smart shoppers shop for value. Poor and stupid shoppers shop for price.

Real life story from yesterday: I'm asked at work to make some amendments to a PDF document. Our corporate PC's come with Acrobat Reader only. My boss thinks I'll print the original, write the changes on the paper copy, scan it (essentially making photographs and saving them in PDF format) and send it to the people who need it. You do realize that my finished product is not longer a document -- you can't search the text (or copy, cut, paste, edit) since it is now merely part of a photograph.

I quickly went back to my hotel and got my MacBook which comes with Preview FOR FREE. Preview lets you annotate and markup PDF documents, so I was able to do that and send the people a real PDF document with our proposed changes.

The list price of the cheapest version of Adobe Acrobat is $299.

Your PC may have had a better price on the day you bought it, but my Mac has given me superior value. If you continued to spend the money to bring your PC to be able to keep up with my Mac, you'd soon have spent way more than I did on day one.

[Daniel001]

Originally Posted by philbot

mainly due to the fact that Macs are too expensive.

It probably has more to do with the standard of higher end computers that the other manufacturers are offering at the moment. For anyone looking to spend a lot of cash on a computer right now, and feel like they're getting something decent for their money, Apple is the obvious front runner.

[Dr Millmoss]

Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

Only Apple buyers have to spend that much (if they want something other than a Mac mini, that is).

It's true but not true -- the new standard of debate!

Originally Posted by philbot

mainly due to the fact that Macs are too expensive.

Which clearly isn't the case, or Apple would be having a hard time selling Macs, which obviously they are not.

[macxpress]

Originally Posted by slapppy

Anyone can afford a Mac. Hasn't anyone heard of the technique of saving up for what you want? If you can't afford it now, save till you can. Or buy refurbish at the Apple online store.

Not everyone has the luxury of waiting until they can afford one. However at the same time, this is exactly what I do except for I plan ahead. If I know I'm gonna want/need a new Mac in the coming months I start saving.

[winterspan]

This sounds great, and it surely is, but how exactly is this measured. If I remember correctly, this is only for major retail stores and so-called "big boxes" like Best Buy, Walmart, etc, right? If that is the case, I'm don't believe these numbers are accurate. I'm sure Apple still has an enormous market share, but it can't be that big.

The reason being most $1000+ PCs fall into three categories:

1) Gaming PCs - most high-end gaming desktops/laptops are purchased built-to-order online from the likes of Dell, HP, Alienware, Falcon northwest, and other many other smaller botique vendors. These would not be included in the data.

2) Ultraportable laptops - These would be laptops from Sony (TT, Z, etc) Panasonic (W5, T5, etc), Toshiba (various models), IBM (X300, X200, etc), Dell (adamo), etc. These are rarely sold at a retail electronics store.

3) Workstation and workstation laptops - PCs like Dell's Precision line and similar are definitely not found in retail stores. They may also be discluded anyways as "business" computers, although many consumers buy them because of their quality/durability/performance.

It would be interesting to see an analysis of these numbers..

[macxpress]

Originally Posted by macFanDave

Smart shoppers shop for value. Poor and stupid shoppers shop for price.

Real life story from yesterday: I'm asked at work to make some amendments to a PDF document. Our corporate PC's come with Acrobat Reader only. My boss thinks I'll print the original, write the changes on the paper copy, scan it (essentially making photographs and saving them in PDF format) and send it to the people who need it. You do realize that my finished product is not longer a document -- you can't search the text (or copy, cut, paste, edit) since it is now merely part of a photograph.

I quickly went back to my hotel and got my MacBook which comes with Preview FOR FREE. Preview lets you annotate and markup PDF documents, so I was able to do that and send the people a real PDF document with our proposed changes.

The list price of the cheapest version of Adobe Acrobat is $299.

Your PC may have had a better price on the day you bought it, but my Mac has given me superior value. If you continued to spend the money to bring your PC to be able to keep up with my Mac, you'd soon have spent way more than I did on day one.

Agreed! Some people though you just can't get that into their head. All they do is look at the price and the specs.

[chronster]

ah the price for osx. It's no wonder they are posting profits seeing as how they are making a killing off their inflated pricing.

But that's my opinion. I'll take a laptop with equal or better hardware specs running vista or xp for much less any day.

[brucep]

these figures seem out of this world
i wonder if its a TYPO

Apple keeps rolling on



Next quarter MBP and IPHONE / IPOD/TOUCH numbers will astound the market...And all other apple devices still have strong sales.

31.5 bn in the cash bank

AND maybe a couple/three NEW product's like a tablet or a 120 g full screen wifi classic touch or even a ipod nano simple phone or even a a TRUE MEDIA HUB combination <<applemini/appleTV>>


9

remember when michele dell said apple was on its last legs
may be the quote of the decade

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by macxpress

Agreed! Some people though you just can't get that into their head. All they do is look at the price and the specs.

Absolutely, Somehow the majority of Americans base "value" solely on price. E.g., a $16 blender from Walmart (lasts about a year) is a better value than a $60 Braun blender designed to last 7 years.

The business model is, "make a crap product," sell it cheaply, advertise the hell out of it, make a quick buck and fill up the landfills. Think-McDonalds, Coke, Cereal companies, American Beer companies, GM, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Cold Play, the list goes on and on.

Thank goodness for Apple, Toyota and Honda

[Timon]

Originally Posted by philbot

mainly due to the fact that Macs are too expensive.

Lets have a $700 headless Mac to bridge the gap between the Mini and the Mac Pro.

Ok, so then what? Once you add a 24" display, keyboard and mouse your back up to $1,000 or more.

[edwardryu]

Originally Posted by macFanDave

Smart shoppers shop for value. Poor and stupid shoppers shop for price.

Real life story from yesterday: I'm asked at work to make some amendments to a PDF document. Our corporate PC's come with Acrobat Reader only. My boss thinks I'll print the original, write the changes on the paper copy, scan it (essentially making photographs and saving them in PDF format) and send it to the people who need it. You do realize that my finished product is not longer a document -- you can't search the text (or copy, cut, paste, edit) since it is now merely part of a photograph.

I quickly went back to my hotel and got my MacBook which comes with Preview FOR FREE. Preview lets you annotate and markup PDF documents, so I was able to do that and send the people a real PDF document with our proposed changes.

The list price of the cheapest version of Adobe Acrobat is $299.

Your PC may have had a better price on the day you bought it, but my Mac has given me superior value. If you continued to spend the money to bring your PC to be able to keep up with my Mac, you'd soon have spent way more than I did on day one.

so you think that shopper who seek for price is stupid? what is it? this time, economy is big matter. everybody tries to save money no matter what. as a matter of fact, not all PC is cheaper or ugly, less specs. I have used mac and PC for more than 15 years. I know what I can get advantage from each. yeah, mac is still better computer. but it's not affordable for most people. if it is, why mac is only shared less than 9% in US or 4% in world market? here in US, $1000 sound cheaper. but when you go to other countries, $1000 is a lot of money for most people. plus, demand is still way lower than PC because windows OS is used in most big companies and government, most people for work. of course, you can run windows on mac. but that's only option. they want entire windows machines, not half booting mac piece of shit. by the way, I have Sony Vaio FW which I recently bought for work. it's very nice, attractive, reliable machine. you said adobe preview? well, that's the first time it comes free with mac. that's maybe adobe reader. Apple is not bundled major software if it is not made by Apple like iLife. so your information is wrong. my mac didn't come with preview. I don't know why you call it preview. plus, did I spend more money because I got PC? NO. actually you will spend more money for software if you are not depend on Apple software. there are few Apple software more than $300. if you need it, you should buy. also microsoft office you should buy if you need (photoshop, apeture, CAD, ans od on). unfortunately, overall cost after buying mac is way more than PC. just take a look at people who bought mac. they go to apple store or other electronic malls to buy more accessaries than PC users. actually they are willing to pay for. so which side more spending money, huh? I don't know where did you pick that wrong information up?

[wobegon]

...I have to think they have an even larger share of the premium laptop market, what with the desktop market being pretty over-saturated at this point and Apple sells more laptops than desktops.

@winterspan,

While you bring up some good points, I would wager premium PCs from Dell, Alienware, etc. aren't sold at retail in large numbers because they're only really popular with the hardcore Windows gamer niche.

Macs, on the other hand, appeal to gamers, video and photography pros or 'prosumers', and well, most people who aren't cheapskates and have an eye for design. There are also many who are just frustrated by Windows, especially Vista.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by macxpress

Not everyone has the luxury of waiting until they can afford one

Then they should buy a PC, and get on with it.

[RichL]

Originally Posted by macFanDave

Real life story from yesterday: I'm asked at work to make some amendments to a PDF document. Our corporate PC's come with Acrobat Reader only. My boss thinks I'll print the original, write the changes on the paper copy, scan it (essentially making photographs and saving them in PDF format) and send it to the people who need it. You do realize that my finished product is not longer a document -- you can't search the text (or copy, cut, paste, edit) since it is now merely part of a photograph.

I quickly went back to my hotel and got my MacBook which comes with Preview FOR FREE. Preview lets you annotate and markup PDF documents, so I was able to do that and send the people a real PDF document with our proposed changes.

The list price of the cheapest version of Adobe Acrobat is $299.

Why didn't you use one of the free alternatives on Windows, such as OpenOffice? I would have saved you a trip back to your hotel...

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by Timon

Ok, so then what? Once you add a 24" display, keyboard and mouse your back up to $1,000 or more.

He may mean it to be directed at those users that already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse from a windows unit and you are just replacing the box with an Apple.

But I see your point, too.

I think Apple's approach is to keep everything simple. My iMac is a marvel of design, I have a wireless apple mouse, wireless apple keyboard and only the one cable (power) coming out of the back. Nothing else on my desk.

When I go over to my friend's house and see the unsightly PC with cables and dust on and at the back of his desk, it really is ugly! IMHO

[cmf2]

Originally Posted by chronster

ah the price for osx. It's no wonder they are posting profits seeing as how they are making a killing off their inflated pricing.

But that's my opinion. I'll take a laptop with equal or better hardware specs running vista or xp for much less any day.

I remember when I thought like that... As another poster mentioned, the added value a mac provides vastly outwieghs any difference in the initial prurchase price. I swear my blood pressure rises when I turn on my homebuilt PC running Windows 7. Why can't Windows have simple things like built in spell check, or allow for the scrolling of non-active windows?

[brucep]

Originally Posted by philbot

mainly due to the fact that Macs are too expensive.

Lets have a $700 headless Mac to bridge the gap between the Mini and the Mac Pro.

Dude

Dude this prove's that apple is number one in computer sales in the market where it chooses to compete. This 91 percent is off, I am sure maybe 75 percent or so .

That extra expense you perceive does not factor in all the true things apple can do while the dell is underpriced and underpowered and you have to spend hundreds more to get your cheap dell to even work . And hundreds more on virus protection.

Apple's WHITE PLASTIC $900 MB beats out any 1200 fully stocked VISTA DELL over a 3 to 5 yr. peridot
.


9

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by chronster

ah the price for osx. It's no wonder they are posting profits seeing as how they are making a killing off their inflated pricing.

Personally, iLife is worth at least $100 for me.

Incidentally, if I thought the price was inflated, I would not buy a Mac. I (and millions like me) obviously don't think so. But I can understand why some people think Macs are too expensive.

[Psych_guy]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

... The average computer sells for $701, but separating Windows PCs from Macs shows a huge disparity. While the average Windows machine in June sold for $515, the average Apple machine came in at $1,400.

In this economy, it's clear that price matters -- to an extent. This week, Apple reported a record third quarter, bolstered by new lower prices on its entire line of MacBooks. The company sold 2.6 million Macs during the quarter, ushering in its best-ever June quarter.

Even with its premium prices, Apple has managed to grow its market share of computers that cost $1,000 or more. This as Microsoft has taken aim at the company's prices, calling it the "Apple tax."

I, for one, am glad that I waited and purchased my iMac (with an education discount). I only have to buy software for the Mac like, Acrobat, FileMaker and maybe MS-Office, and I can do away with the Virtual Machine and go OSX totally. I see great value in the future for my iMac, after having been a Windows guy for the better part of 20 years.

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Personally, iLife is worth at least $100 for me.

Incidentally, if I thought the price was inflated, I would not buy a Mac. I (and millions like me) obviously don't think so. But I can understand why some people think Macs are too expensive.

PC users take a very short-sighted view and don't make a value judgment based on what their time is worth (i.e., productivity). When you factor that into the equation, Apple wins hands down....even at twice the price!

[brucep]

Originally Posted by edwardryu

so you think that shopper who seek for price is stupid? what is it? this time, economy is big matter. everybody tries to save money no matter what. as a matter of fact, not all PC is cheaper or ugly, ey go to apple store or other electronic malls to buy more accessaries than PC users. actually they are willing to pay for. so which side more spending money, huh? I don't know where did you pick that wrong information up?

YOU win
this post is the most full of bullsnot this year ;
re=write it and break each of your points down and i will respond to show you apple is far cheaper stronger better faster safer greener on and on . Look its only 2 machines we talk about
a dell
a apple
leave the emotion out please

9

I await your reply.

[Dr Millmoss]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Personally, iLife is worth at least $100 for me.

I really only use iPhoto and iWeb on any kind of regular basis, but even so, it's worth at least $100 to have these these tools, and not to have to sweat third-party solutions that don't work as well.

Incidentally, if I thought the price was inflated, I would not buy a Mac. I (and millions like me) obviously don't think so. But I can understand why some people think Macs are too expensive.

Yup, the basis rule of consumption which seems to be so poorly understood -- if you buy it, it's not too expensive. It's only too expensive if you choose not to buy it because of price.

[acknight]

Originally Posted by edwardryu

you said adobe preview? well, that's the first time it comes free with mac. that's maybe adobe reader. Apple is not bundled major software if it is not made by Apple like iLife. so your information is wrong. my mac didn't come with preview. I don't know why you call it preview.

Preview is an Apple product, a part of Mac OS X. It has capabilities which on the PC side requires the full version of Adobe Acrobat. And every single Mac comes with that. Feel free to take some points which are actually, um, points.

[randythot]

In many ways, it's so hard to equate value.
Greater durability and style are harder to quantify.
The Adobe Acrobat story above is a clearer example, but there are so many things...
iLife programs are such a delight and ease to use.
The temporary but hopefully long-term absence of malware is so great (how do you quantify loss of your data?)
Having used Apple products since the Apple II+ (except some of those old horrible PowerPC desktops), Apple products have been not only intuitive, but a delight to own.
I'm sure you pay more up front. But over the life of the product, though, my computing life has just been so much easier, and at least a break-even investment even beyond the unquantifiable.

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by brucep

YOU win
this post is the most full of bullsnot this year ;
re=write it and break each of your points down and i will respond to show you apple is far cheaper stronger better faster safer greener on and on . Look its only 2 machines we talk about
a dell
a apple
leave the emotion out please

9

I await your reply.

Why bother? Some people are destined to live in a DLL world! I bet edward thinks horses sleep standing up, too!

[kerryn]

Originally Posted by edwardryu

you said adobe preview? well, that's the first time it comes free with mac. that's maybe adobe reader. Apple is not bundled major software if it is not made by Apple like iLife. so your information is wrong. my mac didn't come with preview. I don't know why you call it preview. plus, did I spend more money because I got PC? NO. actually you will spend more money for software if you are not depend on Apple software. there are few Apple software more than $300.

Okay, I find your response less than coherent. Perhaps you need to slow down on the caffeine.

When the poster refers to Preview he is referring to the built in tool in OSX that lets you see documents, media, etc quickly and easily without the need to open the actual app. Preview allows you to view Adobe PDF files without the need for Adobe Acrobat. The fact the poster stated that you an annotate these PDF files in news to me and I think that this pretty good for software that is part of the OS.

Does Apple provide you all the software you would ever need? Of course not. But to my experience it does provide a much more solid experience on the basics when you first get your machine.

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by kerryn

Does Apple provide you all the software you would ever need? Of course not. But to my experience it does provide I much more solid experience on the basics when you first get your machine.

Well said.

[lilgto64]

Originally Posted by christopher126

He may mean it to be directed at those users that already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse from a windows unit and you are just replacing the box with an Apple.

But I see your point, too.

I think Apple's approach is to keep everything simple. My iMac is a marvel of design, I have a wireless apple mouse, wireless apple keyboard and only the one cable (power) coming out of the back. Nothing else on my desk.

When I go over to my friend's house and see the unsightly PC with cables and dust on and at the back of his desk, it really is ugly! IMHO

Yes the iMac with bluetooth keyboard and mouse can be a pretty clean install - but then you might add a printer - a DSl or cable modem - even if you wireless network - there is still more to the story than just the power cord.

In my case i have 4 Macs and 1 PC with 4 printers, 2 scanners, two external monitors attached to notebooks, Airport Extreme router with external hard drive, Airport Express upstairs, wireless trackball on one notebook, wired on the other, about 15 other USB devices including iPhone, iPod, joystick and other gaming devices, Zip drive, external backup hard drives on two of the notebooks, etc, plus a secondary switch on the network with cable runs upstairs and to a workbench where I have an extra keyboard monitor mouse setup for working on computers for friends and family. So while I have 4 of 5 computers as Macs I have lots of cable clutter.

I did setup an iMac for a friend as his only computer but he does have a printer and a headset and a wired keyboard and mouse and ethernet running to a cable modem so a few wires.

It would be nice if more Apple notebooks had docking stations - my Thinkpad docking station is very convenient and moves all the clutter to the back of the machine instead of sticking out the sides.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by macxpress

Not everyone has the luxury of waiting until they can afford one. However at the same time, this is exactly what I do except for I plan ahead. If I know I'm gonna want/need a new Mac in the coming months I start saving.

So you do what you belittle? That makes sense. That's exactly what saving is:

waiting until they can afford one.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Then they should buy a PC, and get on with it.

Let them eat cake!

[ulfoaf]

Originally Posted by chronster

ah the price for osx. It's no wonder they are posting profits seeing as how they are making a killing off their inflated pricing.

But that's my opinion. I'll take a laptop with equal or better hardware specs running vista or xp for much less any day.

Won't ever do it again.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Let them eat cake!

That is funny (although, interestingly, Marie Antoinette never actually said it!).

[mstone]

Originally Posted by RichL

Why didn't you use one of the free alternatives on Windows, such as OpenOffice? I would have saved you a trip back to your hotel...

Probably because in the corporate world you are not allowed to install software on a company machine.

I laugh every time I go to visit one of my main clients. In the marketing department they have a Mac but nobody knows how to use it. They bought it for freelance designers to use. It has everything on it and it is wide open to the network unlike their hobbled PCs. I can do anything I like including get into supposedly private areas of the LAN because their clueless IT dept. uses some Windows specific authorization which the Mac just skirts right by.

[Ronbo]

Originally Posted by Timon

Ok, so then what? Once you add a 24" display, keyboard and mouse your back up to $1,000 or more.

Except that the next time he buys a computer, he doesn't have to re-purchase the display, keyboard or mouse. He may well already have such a display. Displays become obsolete more slowly than computers, for many. I'm a laptop man. But I can understand the argument for the headless Mac. I just don't think they're in the cards.

[trayser]

Originally Posted by christopher126

Absolutely, Somehow the majority of Americans base "value" solely on price. E.g., a $16 blender from Walmart (lasts about a year) is a better value than a $60 Braun blender designed to last 7 years.

The business model is, "make a crap product," sell it cheaply, advertise the hell out of it, make a quick buck and fill up the landfills. Think-McDonalds, Coke, Cereal companies, American Beer companies, GM, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Cold Play, the list goes on and on.

Thank goodness for Apple, Toyota and Honda

Exactly..
Computers have made great progress from fitting in a room to fitting in a person's palm. This has made this high-tech product into a commodity and people have started looking at it simply from price perspective. They treat buying computers like buying bread and milk.
Luckily, the other high tech or complex products (cars, TVs, refrigerators etc) have not changed so dramatically. So people don't complain if a Toyota or Honda is priced twice as much as some low end car.
I have seen quite a few friends who would only buy a Honda car or Bose sound system, but when it comes to laptops, their aim was to buy the cheapest possible one. They say things like, "I have found a $500 laptop at this store, but I am aiming for $400 one".