Improved iMac supply propels Apple's Mac sales up 14%
After a disappointing holiday quarter, signs continue to show that Mac sales are on the rebound, with the latest data from the NPD Group revealing a 14% year over year increase in January and February.
Apple's growth was attributed to improved availability of the new all-in-one iMac desktop by analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray. NPD's research tracks sales of computers sold domestically.
The data shows Mac sales continue to grow through the March quarter, albeit at a slower pace than the major 31 percent spike in U.S. Mac sales Apple saw in the month of January.
Munster's forecasts still call for total global Mac sales for the March quarter to be down 5 percent year over year, though he admitted there is room for "some slight upside," given the latest sales estimates. He projects that Apple will sell 3.8 million Macs in the three-month span.
iMac sales were down 700,000 units year over year in the December quarter as Apple faced apparent issues with production due to a new screen lamination process. Limited iMac availability was the chief reason cited by Apple officials for a 17 percent drop in Mac sales in the December quarter.
In all, Mac sales fell 800,000 from holiday 2011 to a year later, from 4.9 million to 4.1 million. Apple's struggles ended a long-running streak where the Mac had continued to outgrow ? or in some cases shrink less than ? the greater PC market.
Finally, the NPD's data also found domestic iPod sales were down 16 percent year over year in the months of January and February. Munster has predicted that iPods will be down 17 percent worldwide for the full quarter.
Apple's growth was attributed to improved availability of the new all-in-one iMac desktop by analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray. NPD's research tracks sales of computers sold domestically.
The data shows Mac sales continue to grow through the March quarter, albeit at a slower pace than the major 31 percent spike in U.S. Mac sales Apple saw in the month of January.
Munster's forecasts still call for total global Mac sales for the March quarter to be down 5 percent year over year, though he admitted there is room for "some slight upside," given the latest sales estimates. He projects that Apple will sell 3.8 million Macs in the three-month span.
iMac sales were down 700,000 units year over year in the December quarter as Apple faced apparent issues with production due to a new screen lamination process. Limited iMac availability was the chief reason cited by Apple officials for a 17 percent drop in Mac sales in the December quarter.
In all, Mac sales fell 800,000 from holiday 2011 to a year later, from 4.9 million to 4.1 million. Apple's struggles ended a long-running streak where the Mac had continued to outgrow ? or in some cases shrink less than ? the greater PC market.
Finally, the NPD's data also found domestic iPod sales were down 16 percent year over year in the months of January and February. Munster has predicted that iPods will be down 17 percent worldwide for the full quarter.
Comments
Apple can solve problems. Apple is doomed.
That's one good thing for Apple's cash pile. It's a great financial shock-absorber so when they do product refreshes, they can weather the storm.
Exactly. Too few, downgrade the stock / many available obviously over producing so downgrade the stock again.
I was in an Apple store over the weekend...Number 1: It was very busy with customers, And 2: The iMac 27" is a very beautiful machine!
Quote:
Originally Posted by sflocal
Imac sales were down last quarter because there were no iMacs to sell. Wow, what an insight. Any more amazing comments from analysts?
That's one good thing for Apple's cash pile. It's a great financial shock-absorber so when they do product refreshes, they can weather the storm.
They could have absorbed this "refresh" even without the great cash horde because the "refresh" quarter still brought in record profits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by christopher126
I was in an Apple store over the weekend...Number 1: It was very busy with customers, And 2: The iMac 27" is a very beautiful machine!
Agree with both.
But I don't enjoy the Apple Stores as much as I used to - the daily sea of humanity makes many (most?) of them stink like a men's locker room by noon, if not earlier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by christopher126
And 2: The iMac 27" is a very beautiful machine!
Indeed. The one in front of me is truly stunning.
Funny thing - when an analyst posts positive numbers about Apple sales, there is no questioning the method of data sampling or reliability of the source.
Apple has managed to sort out their biggest screw up of 2012 and analysts are now reporting that sales of the iMac line are way up..... No shit genius.
Not true at all. I've frequently questioned things like this. If you go back through the market share threads, you'll find multiple cases where I said that market share figures based on samples were not valid unless they could prove that the samples were representative - and I did so even in threads which showed very positive numbers for Apple.
Give this man an honorary doctorate in Econ.
Ha! You made me chuckle, ankleskater. "The stores are nice except for all the customers". ROFL. I hope you're not an employee at one of those stores.
(Though perhaps you're mostly complaining about the *type* of customer, in which case your complaint is akin to what my friends say about Wmart. Still, I'd think the two shops would have a different demographic.)
There is no possible way the NPD Group could cull accurate data on Mac sales. Absolutely impossible unless they are stealing it from Apple. In other words... BS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ankleskater
Funny thing - when an analyst posts positive numbers about Apple sales, there is no questioning the method of data sampling or reliability of the source.
Any and all statements by analysts should be viewed with a huge amount of skepticism or just plain be ignored.
We need to make a Fabreez mist app for the devices at their stores! Call it 'BO b Gone'...
I'm assuming after looking over these charts that when they say "Mac sales," they mean ALL Macs, including the MBP and MBA line, which have seen significant price cuts recently. Considering iMacs have been instock at most BnM stores, both Apple and third party since January, I think it's fair to say those price cuts probably play a huge role in this surge. Of course no one wishing to stay in Apple's good graces wants to report that, as it directly implies lowering rMBP prices to more realistic levels = surging sales. Since this report doesn't include sales numbers for individual products in the Mac line, there's no way of knowing what contributed most to this sales increase, but I do think it's notable that the recent significant price cuts aren't mentioned at all.
I don't think that there's any way to say that for a number of reasons:
1. Sales in January are always the slowest month of the year. So even without any price changes or new products, one would expect them to increase in February and March.
2. Even in January, supplies of the iMac were constrained with long lead times - especially for custom orders.
3. The price cuts were not universal. AFAIK, the prices on the Apple Store remained unchanged.
There's absolutely no way to say that the price cuts played a huge role as you claim. They probably played some role, but no one outside of Apple knows how much.