Mac sales see slowdown in August, but still up 23 percent

[AppleInsider]

Apple saw its Mac sales growth decelerate last month, according to preliminary figures from market research firm NPD -- a sign that a tepid consumer environment is impacting the company's business.

In a research report to clients Monday afternoon, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said the NPD data suggests Mac unit sales rose 23 percent year-over-year during August, down from the 43 percent growth rate reported the month earlier.

Munster believes the "weaker than expected" directional trend is a result of the Mac product family being in need of a refresh and a "weak consumer environment [that] is negatively impacting Apple's business."

When combined, NPD data for the first two months of Apple's September quarter suggests a yearly Mac growth rate of 32 percent on sales of 2.8 million - 2.9 million units, according to the analyst, which is still above Wall Street's consensus estimates of 25 percent growth on sales of 2.7 million units.

At the same time, sales of the company's iPod digital media players appear to have accelerated. Munster said iPod units were up 19 percent year-over-year during the month of August, compared to 12 percent growth in July. Revenues from the players were up sharply, however, rising 27 percent.

The analyst estimates that Apple is on course to report sales of approximately 11 million units for the September quarter, representing 8 percent growth compared to consensus estimates of 6 percent growth.

"Given concerns regarding iPod weakness, we believe the segment's outperformance relative to Street expectations is a positive," he said.

Munster estimates Apple will earn $1.19 per share on revenues of $8.5 billion for the September quarter should it achieve unit sales of 2.9 million Macs, 11 million iPods, and 4.1 million iPhones at a gross margin of 32 percent.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[EyeNsteinNo]

... 2.9 million macs, 11 Million iPods and 4.1 million macs...

it doesn't take an einstein to figure that's 7 million macs!

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by EyeNsteinNo

... 2.9 million macs, 11 Million iPods and 4.1 million macs...

it doesn't take an einstein to figure that's 7 million macs!

Gee.... I wonder why they didn't mention the iPhone?

[Messiah]

It might have something to do with the fact that the following product families badly need an update:

• Mac Mini
• iMac
• Mac Pro
• MacBook
• MacBook Pro

Some of these products are so long in the tooth that it's embarrassing. A guess there are a lot of people out there at the moment who are waiting for these families to be updated before they shell out their hard-earned.

[monstrosity]

any dip is purely due to holding back for macbook revisions.

[captaincore]

Originally Posted by wbrasington

Gee.... I wonder why they didn't mention the iPhone?

Apple is waiting until end of this year to announce sales for the iPhone.

Steve Jobs: " We told you we would sell 10M iPhones by the end of this year...well, we're glad to tell you that we've sold 20 Kajillion iPhones"

[Wally]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"Given concerns regarding iPod weakness, we believe the segment's outperformance relative to Street expectations is a positive,"

Thank you for that captain obvious.

"concerns over iPod weakness" - in other words, their predictions for iPod weakness were wrong. Ass-hats.

[Ireland]

Slowdown = new MacBooks

[FuturePastNow]

Originally Posted by Messiah

It might have something to do with the fact that the following product families badly need an update:

• Mac Mini
• iMac
• Mac Pro
• MacBook
• MacBook Pro

Some of these products are so long in the tooth that it's embarrassing. A guess there are a lot of people out there at the moment who are waiting for these families to be updated before they shell out their hard-earned.

I don't think that anyone outside of Apple forum sites knows or cares about that.

[ouragan]

Munster believes the "weaker than expected" directional trend is a result of the Mac product family being in need of a refresh and a "weak consumer environment [that] is negatively impacting Apple's business."

Consumers don't buy Apple computers because:

1- They are $300 to $500 more expensive than Windows computers;

2- Apple doesn't offer the Centrino 2 platform launched by Intel on July 14, 2008. See Intel announces Centrino 2 @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38395/135/ ;

3- Apple doesn't offer quad-core desktop iMacs, whereas Intel first introduced the 65 nm Core 2 Quad Q6600 on January 8, 2007, followed by Penryn quad core processors on November 12, 2007. See CES 2007: Intel rolls out new quad-core processor Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/30672/113/ and Intel releases sixteen new Penryn processors for servers and high-end @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34800/118/ .


Windows computers are less expensive with back to school sales and offer either Centrino 2 mobile computers with 45 nm Penryn CPUs or quad-core 45 nm Penryn desktop computers.

Apple computers are not competitively priced and don't offer the latest technology.

Why would anyone pay more for outdated technology?

[Shaun, UK]

I agree that Apple needs to look at it's product portfolio.

For example the most bouyant computer sector in the UK seems to be 15" laptops - but Apple's cheapest 15" laptop is £1299, which is just too expensive for most people.

Apple really needs a 15" MacBook to satisfy the mass market who don't need the power of a MacBook Pro. The 13" MacBook is not sufficient - especially when you can buy a 15" or even a 17" Windows laptop for less.