Apple's U.S. Mac market share rises to 5.6 percent in Q2

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
U.S. shipments of Apple's Mac computer line grew 26 percent during the second quarter of 2007, according to just released data from market research firm IDC.



The firm said Apple shipped 960,000 units within the U.S. during the three-month period, good enough for a 5.6 percent share of the overall U.S. PC market and fourth place on its list of top vendors.



Apple's U.S. share is up from 4.8 percent during the year-ago quarter when it shipped 761,000 units, according to IDC's historical data.



The Cupertino-based Mac maker was bested only by Dell, HP and Gateway, respectively. Dell maintained its rank as the top U.S. vendor, having shipped 4.85 million units for a 28.4 percent U.S. share. However, it continued to see its share of the market eroded by rivals, registering a near 11 percent yearly decline.



For its part, HP grabbed a 23.6 percent share through shipments of just over 4 million units, representing 26 percent growth year-over-year. In third place was Gateway, having edged Apple by a mere 5000 units as it saw growth decline more than 7 percent from the year-ago quarter.



Overall, IDC said the PC market accelerated to 7.2 percent growth during the quarter as aggressive competition and repositioning continued following a slow second half of 2006. The notebook market remained particularly strong, driven by consumer retail and channel activity. Although Desktop shipments continued to contract, shipment volume was higher than anticipated, the firm said.



From a worldwide perspective, PC shipments grew by 12.5 during the quarter, with Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) returning as the fastest growing region with volume increasing more than 20 percent from the same quarter one year ago. IDC also cited competitive market in the United States as helping boost overall growth with other regions expanding in line with or slightly behind forecasts.







"This was another strong quarter that sets the stage for solid growth in the second half of 2007 and 2008," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "The success of HP and Acer as well as the rapid changes occurring at Dell in recent quarters underline just how dynamic the PC market is these days. Despite the temptation to simplify, the market is not just about replacing systems at the lowest cost. System design, customer service, channel coverage, and market expansion are all playing key roles in winning business."



Apple did not rank amongst IDC's top worldwide PC vendors, and hence the company's worldwide shipment data was not available.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 37
    eaieai Posts: 417member
    I wonder how far off the bottom of the worldwide table they are... I'd imagine the US is Apple's major market, followed fairly closely by Europe, so perhaps they double what they sell in the US?
  • Reply 2 of 37
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Congratulations, Apple (c'mon, Steve we know you read AppleInsider...admit it )!
  • Reply 3 of 37
    aisiaisi Posts: 134member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by eAi View Post


    I'd imagine the US is Apple's major market, followed fairly closely by Europe, so perhaps they double what they sell in the US?



    In the second calendar quarter of 2006, Mac sales in the U.S. accounted for 57 percent of all Mac sales (760,000 out of 1.327 million). With 960,000 units sold in the U.S. this quarter, Apple will sell about 1.68 million Macs worldwide if the U.S./World ratio stays constant.
  • Reply 4 of 37
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    Good news, I sure hope this continues!



    However looking at the table, even though we can see Apple move past anemic Gateway, I wouldn't be surprised if Acer and Lenevo (who are increasing share at more than twice Apple's rate) pass Apple. Dell continues to fall, but Apple is only picking up 1% a year, the others are picking up more. (One percent per year at its size is actually a sweet spot and I'm not sure Apple could do better and maintain quality.)



    Still, it is good news and it is good for the industry as a whole to have a broader supply-side than one or two companies. If Apple can get to 10% in 5 years, that would be huge and a great foundation for further development on the next great platform/device of the future. By then, who knows how platform agnostic the internet and computing will become.
  • Reply 5 of 37
    mrpiddlymrpiddly Posts: 406member
    If only apple realeased a $100 PC and then sold like a billion of them to developing nations. They would all run a OSX too. If apple ever did that and they actually sold a large number, that would make the tables turn quite a bit.





    (i really dont wont this to happen and think that apple should instead focus on the high end of the market in all areas.)
  • Reply 6 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacGregor View Post


    Good news, I sure hope this continues!



    However looking at the table, even though we can see Apple move past anemic Gateway, I wouldn't be surprised if Acer and Lenevo (who are increasing share at more than twice Apple's rate) pass Apple. Dell continues to fall, but Apple is only picking up 1% a year, the others are picking up more. (One percent per year at its size is actually a sweet spot and I'm not sure Apple could do better and maintain quality.)



    Still, it is good news and it is good for the industry as a whole to have a broader supply-side than one or two companies. If Apple can get to 10% in 5 years, that would be huge and a great foundation for further development on the next great platform/device of the future. By then, who knows how platform agnostic the internet and computing will become.



    I agree. I think Apple has probably already surpassed Gateway for Q3 from April to June. and that HP will overtake Dell in Q4 or Q1 2008. But as you say, Acer and Toshiba can very easily push Apple back to 4th or 5th place.



    Still, I'm not concerned about any of this. As long as Apple is selling more than the previous year while maintaining it's margins I'm fine.
  • Reply 7 of 37
    sunbowsunbow Posts: 67member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AISI View Post


    In the second calendar quarter of 2006, Mac sales in the U.S. accounted for 57 percent of all Mac sales (760,000 out of 1.327 million). With 960,000 units sold in the U.S. this quarter, Apple will sell about 1.68 million Macs worldwide if the U.S./World ratio stays constant.



    And given the lower penetration of Apple into businesses compared with the home suggests a much higher than 5.6% share of the home market. How soon might we all expect the 'halo effect' of these home sales to drive people at all levels of employment from new entrants to senior managers to 'demand' Macs? (Between now and around 2010 I suspect quite a few more managers who know the advantages of Macs will be achieving senior management positions and at present, it looks like this trend will continue.)



    And how long will CIOs (who I get the impression have had some fairly authoritarian views about what IT people can use in their Companies) be able to resist moving to a more modern collaborative style of management and allow a wider range of systems to be used.



    Tired old arguments about it being more expensive to manage mixed networks should be replaced with the realisation that the internet reveals, that many different client (and server) computers can work together and that diversity has its advantages (compare with nature (mono-cultures) etc. where there are serious risks to having one variety of something). Preparedness for 'Business Continuity' (in relation to cyber-threats and malware for example) is improved if we don't depend on one type of system that presents vulnerabilities that are common across all clients and servers in an organisation.
  • Reply 8 of 37
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    I'm sure analysts love market share figures but it's meaningless for software developers. The important factor is that the market for software is growing by up to 26%* not that we've now got 5.6% of the entire PC market.



    That's the important figure - the market for Mac software has grown 26%.



    In the same time the market for the entire PC industry only grew 7.2%



    The market for Mac software developers is increasingly healthy, more so than Windows.





    * I say 'up to' as obviously some of those sales are to existing Mac users, not new users.
  • Reply 9 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sunbow View Post


    And given the lower penetration of Apple into businesses compared with the home suggests a much higher than 5.6% share of the home market.



    I agree. And there are all those crappy, cheap Windows PCs being used as a POS machine or a timecard clock or what ever other single use function that needs to tie into a server or access a printer. If we take machines running modern processors that were released within the last 18 months or machines that are $1000 or higher we find that Apple has significantly more marketshare. If they checked installed base vs. marketshare then we find that Mac lifespan is significantly higher than that of a budget PC and therefore has to be replaced more often thereby adding to the PC's marketshare. F#$k marketshare!





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sunbow View Post


    And how long will CIOs ... be able to resist moving to a more modern collaborative style of management and allow a wider range of systems to be used.



    A loooong time. If a company were to move to OS X then they are now locked into Apple hardware. By using x PC vendor they can switch to y PC vendor if the quality of x is sub-par or if y offers a better deal. All while maintaining the same OS.



    The silver lining in this for Apple is if a company moves completely to web based applications without using ActiveX. This would also a mix of both Macs and PCs while still maintaining the same level pr productivity and access. It is my opinion that Apple's primary goal in select open standards is to make the transition into the workplace a future consideration. But will it work?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sunbow View Post


    Tired old arguments about it being more expensive to manage mixed networks should be replaced with the realisation that the internet reveals, that many different client (and server) computers can work together and that diversity has its advantages (compare with nature (mono-cultures) etc. where there are serious risks to having one variety of something).



    That goes along with my silver lining statement above.
  • Reply 10 of 37
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    For Apple to make inroads in business, they need serious database support. No, I don't mean FileMaker Pro either, I'm talking a dbms that can support hundreds of users and allow access to hundreds of gigabytes of data.
  • Reply 11 of 37
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PBG4 Dude View Post


    For Apple to make inroads in business, they need serious database support. No, I don't mean FileMaker Pro either, I'm talking a dbms that can support hundreds of users and allow access to hundreds of gigabytes of data.



    You have to wonder when Apple will unleash some enterprise database management solutions. They are hardly inexperienced given their little set up, aka iTunes. Or is someone going to ruin my day and tell me that all runs on PCs using MS File?
  • Reply 12 of 37
    Am I the only one that gets kind of nervous when I hear that Apple is gaining market share? Yeah it's good for the company to grow, but I don't think it's so good for us on the other end. If more people are buying Macs more people are going to be looking for/making malicious software/spyware/viri. I like the fact that I do not have any spyware software or anti-virus software installed, or need to worry about any of it.
  • Reply 13 of 37
    I think Apple will top out at about 30% of the market share. I really think PCs will remain prominent in most workplaces and there will be a nearly a 50-50 dichotomy among home users... all this by 2015 or so. That is, if people still use computers by then.



    -Clive
  • Reply 14 of 37
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Digital Disasta View Post


    Am I the only one that gets kind of nervous when I hear that Apple is gaining market share? Yeah it's good for the company to grow, but I don't think it's so good for us on the other end. If more people are buying Macs more people are going to be looking for/making malicious software/spyware/viri. I like the fact that I do not have any spyware software or anti-virus software installed, or need to worry about any of it.



    Double edged sword. In the early 90's we experienced Apple losing share and almost, but for SJ's return, going for good. I guess you either grow or die and the down side you mention of growing just has to be dealt with. Better to have my Mac and potential attacks down the road than no Mac. I suspect Apple will never allow the chaos PC users experience - no basis for this other than faith in Apple I guess.
  • Reply 15 of 37
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Clive At Five View Post


    I think Apple will top out at about 30% of the market share. I really think PCs will remain prominent in most workplaces and there will be a nearly a 50-50 dichotomy among home users... all this by 2015 or so. That is, if people still use computers by then.



    -Clive



    If you are even half right my AAPL will be worth enough by then to retire in real luxury . Here is hoping.
  • Reply 16 of 37
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    If you are even half right my AAPL will be worth enough by then to retire in real luxury . Here is hoping.



    You think?



    How much do you figure it will be worth by then? I figure for anyone to retire in luxury, you must be assuming such a scenario would result in 10x your money right?



    That makes Apple a 1.2 trillion dollar company. You think that's likely?
  • Reply 17 of 37
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Given these numbers and how strong Toshiba is it would be hoped that the xMac frevor would die down a bit. Toshiba has no desktop line at all...which shows desktops are not required for share growth or a top 5 share position worldwide.



    Vinea
  • Reply 18 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cameronj View Post


    You think?



    How much do you figure it will be worth by then? I figure for anyone to retire in luxury, you must be assuming such a scenario would result in 10x your money right?



    That makes Apple a 1.2 trillion dollar company. You think that's likely?



    Where does 10x come from? It is all relative to how much is invested.
  • Reply 19 of 37
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cameronj View Post


    You think?



    How much do you figure it will be worth by then? I figure for anyone to retire in luxury, you must be assuming such a scenario would result in 10x your money right?



    That makes Apple a 1.2 trillion dollar company. You think that's likely?



    Actually, if you invested in AAPL in 2002, you would have about 20x growth as of today.
  • Reply 20 of 37
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Where does 10x come from? It is all relative to how much is invested.



    I know - I was just throwing out a figure - if you already have 1,000,000 to invest in Apple and all you are hoping for is a double, you probably wouldn't have phrased it the way the OP did. So yeah, I just took a number out of thin air. Say you put 20,000 in Apple stock. That's a whole lot for most people, right? Even if you are "only" hoping for 5x, you still only get to 100,000 (not enough to retire in luxury in most universes), and Apple still has to nearly reach that magical 1 trillion mark.



    My point is that while I think the growth prospects for Apple are outstanding in terms of product sales and profits, I don't think the potential for the stock to rise is nearly as good, since much of that, in my opinion, has already happened.



    As illustration, look at Microsoft. It is priced in the same range as it was 5 years ago, but earnings have grown substantially since then.
Sign In or Register to comment.