Mac sales growth up over 100 percent in January, says firm
Sales of Apple Inc.'s Mac line of personal computers saw year-over-year growth accelerate over 100 percent during the month of January, with revenue growth rising even further, according to Pacific Crest Securities.
In a brief research note distributed to clients on Thursday, the firm cited NPD market research data which implies that year-over-year growth in Mac unit sales accelerated in January to 101 percent, up from 55 percent in December.
Meanwhile, a rise in the average selling price (ASPs) of Macs is reported to have driven even greater year-over-year dollar sales growth of 108 percent during the same time period, again, up from 55 percent in December.
"Mac ASPs grew 4 percent in January on a year-over-year basis and 1 percent sequentially," wrote analyst Andy Hargreaves. "Apple's ability to maintain stable ASPs is a strong indicator of its brand equity and consumer demand, in our view."
Hargreaves said that sales of Mac notebooks grew 194 percent year-over-year in January with a rising ASP that drove 221 percent revenue growth in the segment.
"January was the third-largest revenue month for Mac notebooks ever," he added.
The analyst noted that over the past eight quarters, the first month of NPD data has been between 7 percent and 9 percent of Apple's quarterly Mac unit sales.
"If this relationship holds in fiscal Q2 (March), Mac sales would significantly exceed our Q2 estimate of 1.495 million units," he said.
In a brief research note distributed to clients on Thursday, the firm cited NPD market research data which implies that year-over-year growth in Mac unit sales accelerated in January to 101 percent, up from 55 percent in December.
Meanwhile, a rise in the average selling price (ASPs) of Macs is reported to have driven even greater year-over-year dollar sales growth of 108 percent during the same time period, again, up from 55 percent in December.
"Mac ASPs grew 4 percent in January on a year-over-year basis and 1 percent sequentially," wrote analyst Andy Hargreaves. "Apple's ability to maintain stable ASPs is a strong indicator of its brand equity and consumer demand, in our view."
Hargreaves said that sales of Mac notebooks grew 194 percent year-over-year in January with a rising ASP that drove 221 percent revenue growth in the segment.
"January was the third-largest revenue month for Mac notebooks ever," he added.
The analyst noted that over the past eight quarters, the first month of NPD data has been between 7 percent and 9 percent of Apple's quarterly Mac unit sales.
"If this relationship holds in fiscal Q2 (March), Mac sales would significantly exceed our Q2 estimate of 1.495 million units," he said.
Comments
BUY! BUY! BUY!
I think this will be the best year ever for Apple, and next year will be even bigger.
I would expect in Feb a slight pullback as Vista domininates retail floor presence and takes back a few of these swing customers... I still think 90million iPod owners can't be wrong though and Mac sales are going up long term...
boom!
!BAM!
2007 - T Y O A.
I've got all her records!
Some but not all this change in velocity has to be attributed to Vista launching in the month... many users didn't want to buy Windows XP knowing it was going obsolete (and they didn't need it under the tree in the month of Jan like they did in Dec) so they looked at the alternatives and bought Apple (a good choice IMHO).
I would expect in Feb a slight pullback as Vista domininates retail floor presence and takes back a few of these swing customers... I still think 90million iPod owners can't be wrong though and Mac sales are going up long term...
I don't know how much velocity will really be lost though... I think the key is going to be with how fast Apple can get their act together and release Leopard and the TV; followed by providing a good supply of the iPhone with quick, timely revisions. As well as refreshing their computer product lines and expanding the HD space of their iPods. There is a right time for all of the different refreshes and immeadiately certainly is not the time for them, but they really need to keep things accelerated.
I think that right now Microsoft handed Apple the ball in the game by releasing the bloated, expensive Vista. Sure it has a lot of eye-candy and some great new features, but the new feature set is not THAT impressive. Microsoft has grown to be large, and as many large companies it cannot be as agile as a smaller company, Apple needs to capitalize the opportunity. Apple is NOT the Sony of the computer world, right now it can't do limited production and still hit the same figures, relatively speaking, naturally, as Sony does in the gaming world.
I think that if Apple can get a new server that will support the latest features of the Windows Domains and that has an even more powerful feature set for the Apple computers that would be an incredibly powerful push on their part. Also, if Apple can get the total integration of all devices down soon their 'monopoly' on your living room would be complete. The consumer's dream: all gadgets talking to each other and the information being pulled at HD video stream levels of data transfer to any device in the house. All of this needs to work out of the box. Apple's dream: their products fulfilling this dream of the consumer.
The month on month comparison is very interesting, if a little optimistic frankly. Could there really have been that mass of consumers holding out for Vista machines and being disappointed? What was the difference between December and January which could essentially overcome Christmas? I don't get it.
Anyway, so long as nothing huge comes from the global markets' recent downturn (can anyone here remember a real recession like me? ), I seriously expect this to be the best Mac sales year again, and the iPhone to be a sensation. If there is a danger for Apple, it's more likely to come from general uneasiness in the global economy and affect us all, than from any competitor from Redmond or elsewhere.
Looking forward to the Spring of Leopard and Santa Rosa Macs. 8)
Total weirdness I tell ya.
With the Intel switch, a number of I.T. types are beginning to look at Macs as the sole source for hardware. It's a lot easier to stock one type of CPU and have it run whatever you want than to invest in Macs and Dells and thereby have "twice" as many spare computers lying around. Options for the Windows crowd usually involve Parallels - and that with XP as the licenses already exist and no one wanting to "invest" in Vista.
Some places are even looking at using Citrix to run Outlook to provide an Exchange client as one doesn't really exist for the Mac (depending on how intensely you use it, Entourage is acceptable).
It's nice to see the sales increases in person!
a) Vista Got Exactly One halfway decent day of coverage and most of the messaging was middling.
b) Compare that with the insane week blanket coverage of the iphone of a product that 100 people on this Earth has touched!
c) Most of the reviews are lukewarm or as others ahve pointed out, 75% of these reviews allude to OSX either in passing or pointing out how it's copying many features.
d) The core of their "average" customers are people who bought a Pc because it looked cheap. There is no way they are going to spend 40% to 10% of their purchase to upgrade when all the info out there is this info *might* not work, *might* not be for you, requires a clean install, blah, blah, blah and what for? While we might understand Aero, 90% of the consumers look at MS's ads and think - is this like where they promise an underprivilidged kid in an improverished environment will become an astronaut by using XP - is this another 'moon' promise? Contrast that with Apple' Mac PC ads where they don't pretend if you turn on a computer, you will be whisked away to some squiggly line land of the future.
e) These are the people who lived through 114,000 problems on their PC.
f) While they are not quite convinced just yet to switch to a Mac, the keep hearing little bit like it might run XP and Mac ... maybe they might visit an Apple store.
g) How many even hardcore MS believers can tell you exactly what the difference is between the 10-12 Vista versions? MS really blew this also. For a candy bar, a consumer might be willing to spend $9 to try to try each version but when the cheapest is $130? Or do you just throw up your arms, buy a Mac with ONE OS and install XP?
h) After 6 years, $6 billion dollars and with 70,000 employees, they can't figure out how or why it might take up a YEAR to get drivers and graphic card software to work correctly? Hell, even the Zune software wouldn't work correctly initially - what are they dong in REdmond?
This won't affect enterprise sales much as they are mostly buying for Kiosks, as cash registers and as telemarketing stations but for people who have to shell out their own hard earned dollars - MS has already established they are the "unsafe" choice, it's not particulary "stable" and upgrading or even buying Vista is way too confusing - and who knows what peripherals will work with it ...
It took a long time for Apple to lose Mac market share and it won't be easy to get it back but MS is not putting up much of a fight. MS still has the $399 PC buyers in tow since all they are interested are in is how much is the credit card charge today but anything above $499 is now an open game and MS is ripe for the plucking ...
Lately, I have noticed a trend among places with less than 500 computers, like graphics houses who have solid Mac users and everyone else on PCs.
With the Intel switch, a number of I.T. types are beginning to look at Macs as the sole source for hardware. It's a lot easier to stock one type of CPU and have it run whatever you want than to invest in Macs and Dells and thereby have "twice" as many spare computers lying around. Options for the Windows crowd usually involve Parallels - and that with XP as the licenses already exist and no one wanting to "invest" in Vista.
Some places are even looking at using Citrix to run Outlook to provide an Exchange client as one doesn't really exist for the Mac (depending on how intensely you use it, Entourage is acceptable).
It's nice to see the sales increases in person!
A college in Pennsylvania just announced that it is getting rid of all PCs and going Mac only.
Primarily for the reason you stated.
Since the transition to intel last year and the lack of universal pro apos depressed growth of Apple's sales last year, it is not surprising to see things springing back this year.
If you own Apple stock, look out. If past history is any indication, when Apple announces a big whopping increase is sales, far and above any analyst's expectations, the stock will drop like a rock.
Total weirdness I tell ya.
I'll hang in there thanks and if it does dip for a while I'll buy more. This puppy has a long way to run, we haven't seen anything yet.
A college in Pennsylvania just announced that it is getting rid of all PCs and going Mac only.
Primarily for the reason you stated.
The flood gates are opening people
Vista has gotten off to a feeble start not just in sales but in mindshare.
It took a long time for Apple to lose Mac market share and it won't be easy to get it back but MS is not putting up much of a fight. MS still has the $399 PC buyers in tow since all they are interested are in is how much is the credit card charge today but anything above $499 is now an open game and MS is ripe for the plucking ...
You did say 'plucking' right? ... Just checking
Good thing I bought AAPL at $65!
BUY! BUY! BUY!
I think this will be the best year ever for Apple, and next year will be even bigger.
True, true! I'm just waiting for the "revamped Logic" and new touch-screen displays (a-la iPhone). Just think about mixing music and adjusting faders and knobs with your fingers instead of the mouse. Too cool!
And the iPhone better be able to send/receive faxes. It's a phone and has a derivative of OS X, therefore it has the capability built-in and just needs to be taken advantage of.
True, true! I'm just waiting for the "revamped Logic" and new touch-screen displays (a-la iPhone). Just think about mixing music and adjusting faders and knobs with your fingers instead of the mouse. Too cool!
And the iPhone better be able to send/receive faxes. It's a phone and has a derivative of OS X, therefore it has the capability built-in and just needs to be taken advantage of.
Still not convinced there will be touch-screen displays or tablets, but I'd definitely take a hard look at one to replace my (wired) Wacom tablet...