Apple's Leopard to boost Mac sales while Dell, HP slump: report

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Mac OS X Leopard will drive Apple computer sales to record levels in the next few months while both Dell and HP are mired in sinking or largely stagnant demand, according to a new report from ChangeWave Research.



Of those poll respondents shopping for a desktop or notebook computer within the three months following November, a record 29 percent of each group plans to buy a Mac -- a slight increase from 28 percent in August for the already strong-selling MacBook range but a major spike from the 23 percent set by desktops in the same late summer period.



At 24 percent, nearly one quarter of those who answered the research firm specifically said they would be more likely to buy a Mac due to the release of Mac OS X Leopard in October.



Apple is also likely to crack the historically resistant corporate market, ChangeWave says. Sales of both Mac desktops and notebooks to business customers have remained virtually flat for a full year, but are now set to climb a percentage point each to 6 and 7 percent respectively. The combination should put Apple ahead of the curve, according to the poll.



"Over the next 90 days, Mac laptop and desktop sales to consumers will remain the biggest growth story in the PC industry," ChangeWave explains.











The analyst firm notes that Apple is more likely to retain these buyers, with a full 80 percent of existing Mac owners saying they are "very satisfied" with their systems compared to 61 percent for its next-best competitor, Dell. About 18 percent of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied.



Major Windows PC makers are losing favor among the 13,000 respondents. Surprisingly, Hewlett-Packard's rapid growth in marketshare may cool during the holidays: although HP's demand has remained steady for most of the year, demand for HP's home desktops and portables has dipped to 24 and 21 percent, a drop of 4 percent in each case. The computer builder's corporate sales have remained largely flat, peaking at 18 percent for desktops.



If anticipated purchases are an indication, Dell has yet to recover from its "downward spiral" from the past two years, ChangeWave says. The company's desktops remained at their two-year low of 31 percent demand while notebooks dropped from 29 to 28 percent. Businesses only saw a slight upturn but were only slightly higher than lows set in August.



And while there are more "very satisfied" owners of Dell and HP systems, more of their user bases in the study group are likely to complain about the experience than before: Dell's dissatisfied base has grown from 8 to 12 percent, while HP sees a near-identical climb from 9 to 13 percent.



«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    shanmugamshanmugam Posts: 1,200member
    if xMac, MacBook 15" released MWSF, hmmm sigh sigh i am day dreaming ....
  • Reply 2 of 34
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shanmugam View Post


    if xMac, MacBook 15" released MWSF, hmmm sigh sigh i am day dreaming ....



    I'm crossig my fingers for a 13.4" MacBook. The 13.3" display is just too small for me.
  • Reply 3 of 34
    plusplus Posts: 54member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The analyst firm notes that Apple is more likely to retain these buyers, with a full 80 percent of existing Mac owners saying they are "very satisfied" with their systems compared to 61 percent for its next-best competitor, Dell. About 18 percent of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied.



    Umm, assuming that someone who is "very satisfied" is more satisfied than someone who is "somewhat satisfied", then we can't have 80% very satisfied but only 18% who are at least somewhat satisfied. Saying "at least" means they are satisfied at least somewhat (and maybe more) ... and we already know that 80% polled as "very satisfied"!



    Judging from the actual ChangeWave data displayed later in the article, 98% of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied (80% very satisfied and an additional 18% who are (only) somewhat satisfied). The text should be changed ... e.g., "About 18% of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied" should read "An additional 18% of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied."
  • Reply 4 of 34
    zunxzunx Posts: 620member
    Is this for the States, Worldwide?



    The day Mac OS X reaches 20% marker share worldwide, Windows will fade away in three years. Windows is maintained by ignorance (with all due respect) and inertia. People suffer it because they do not know that there is a much better alternative named Mac OS X.
  • Reply 5 of 34
    shanmugamshanmugam Posts: 1,200member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I'm crossig my fingers for a 13.4" MacBook. The 13.3" display is just too small for me.



    you meant to say 15.4" ?
  • Reply 6 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shanmugam View Post


    you meant to say 15.4" ?



    Nahhh... I personally think that extrat 0.1" makes a huge difference!
  • Reply 7 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iCarbon View Post


    Nahhh... I personally think that extrat 0.1" makes a huge difference!



    you meant to say "extra"?
  • Reply 8 of 34
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shanmugam View Post


    you meant to say 15.4" ?



    No, I was just goofing around.
  • Reply 9 of 34
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    That 11", ultra-light Mac touch will create even more interest



    Not that I expect it to be announced at Macworld. I'd say late summer myself, or even possibly Macworld 2009.



    What I'd love to happen @ Macworld (but don't expect to):



    * 11" Mac touch, 13mm thin, iSight in bezel, 64GB SSD storage, ultra-light, ultra-portable, glass screen, aluminum rear with touch stand (like when you press a touch bin - it pops out), rubber hand grips, and completely M-T UI with virtual keyboard. Comes with docking stand, targeted @ desktop users "Take some work with you.", can be used a digital picture frame.



    * New 13.3", 15.4" & 17.1" LED-backlit MacBooks, newly design aluminum chassis, slightly thinner case, new flat white keyboards, magnetic latch across the board, and "Pro" moniker completely killed. 13.3" version available in colors. "All three" fully customizable.



    * 12.1" MacBook thin announced, 15mm thin, Leopards comes on thumb drive, fully SSD, 64GB or 128GB versions, mag-latch, the works.



    * New Cinema Displays; 20", 24" + 30", all LED back-lit, iSights built-in, Glossy or matte options, 50% thinner, 30% lighter, 25% cheaper.



    * Early iPhone SDK announced with 3 games released (work on iPod touch too)



    * 16GB iPhone released



    * Johnny Ive signed in as new CEO :P
  • Reply 10 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zunx View Post


    Is this for the States, Worldwide?



    The day Mac OS X reaches 20% marker share worldwide, Windows will fade away in three years. Windows is maintained by ignorance (with all due respect) and inertia. People suffer it because they do not know that there is a much better alternative named Mac OS X.



    Well over the past three decades Apple has not broken 10% market share so I doubt we have to worry about 20% anytime soon.



    Also Windows could never fade away in three years because the average business would not invest that much money in that span of time to change around all their systems.



    The fact is the business world in general has very little interest in Apple. With all the hype and all the reports the simple fact is Apple market share still remains around 6%, people were predicting 10% back in 2005 and yet it's still at 6%.
  • Reply 11 of 34
    Well, there you have it. It looks like Mac sales are WAY up, and looking at Amazon.com's bestselling computers and operating systems show some good news, as well. Leopard comes before XP, XP before Vista.



    And this trend is going to get stronger, not weaker, and Mac OS X market share will break WAY beyond 20%. You see, the way sales are going on now, the Mac market share should reach around 20% (or at least get close) in a few months. (with a side-effect of even MORE software being written for Mac.) And then when such a large amount of people are using Mac, all the Windows users who use it just because that is what is shown to them at Staples will open their eyes and realize that Mac OS X is an actual option to consider. After that happens, and it will likely be within one or two years, a LARGE portion of these Windows users who are fed up with Windows or Microsoft will begin using Macs, and that could make the Windows market share shrink to around 40% within a few years (with it slowly declining from there, unless Microsoft REALLY cleans up their act and makes a REALLY good OS without all the problems or high prices). Yup, that's the snowball effect for you, and it's very real.



    --

    [ Oh, and there is also an emerging operating system, ReactOS, intended to be a free, open source alternative to Windows (meaning it is completely legal, works like Windows, and runs all Windows software natively) . It could mean that eventually, instead of installing Windows (on Boot Camp or VMware) for any other software needs (which probably won't be needed by then), some people will use ReactOS instead. It is only at version 0.3 right now (and as such is about twice as unstable as Windows ME), but it should be an option in several years. (The only downsides are that it wouldn't be officially supported by Microsoft or anything, and it would likely lag a bit behind Windows, but on the other hand it will be made by the people, for the people, and as such be better than Windows in many ways). ]

    --
  • Reply 12 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macosxp View Post


    And this trend is going to get stronger, not weaker, and Mac OS X market share will break WAY beyond 20%. You see, the way sales are going on now, the Mac market share should reach around 20% (or at least get close) in a few months.



    That market share is in the US. The rest of the world (and there's a lot of world out of the US) isn't really into Macs yet, but... give it some time :-)
  • Reply 13 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by heffeque View Post


    That market share is in the US. The rest of the world (and there's a lot of world out of the US) isn't really into Macs yet, but... give it some time :-)



    Except in Japan, where Mac is far more popular than it is in the USA.
  • Reply 14 of 34
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zunx View Post


    Windows will fade away in three years. Windows is maintained by ignorance (with all due respect) and inertia. People suffer it because they do not know that there is a much better alternative named Mac OS X.



    And also because it enabled them to pirate software off their work computer. But with corporate copy protection these days it's a lot harder. One less reason to buy a PC.
  • Reply 15 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by extremeskater View Post


    Well over the past three decades Apple has not broken 10% market share so I doubt we have to worry about 20% anytime soon.



    Also Windows could never fade away in three years because the average business would not invest that much money in that span of time to change around all their systems.



    The fact is the business world in general has very little interest in Apple. With all the hype and all the reports the simple fact is Apple market share still remains around 6%, people were predicting 10% back in 2005 and yet it's still at 6%.



    Although I am all for the spirit of "Windows fading away", I think we will see eye-to-eye in that time estimates are pointless. The question is "will windows fade away?". The answer is becoming closer to yes, but we're not there yet.



    On the three years question, look at Dell. Everyone forgets that the whole Order Online Dell efficiency was not the reason why they suceeded, it was instead a good product and impecable (apple-esque) technical support. They ditched that and within three years, they had dug their own grave. Still they do have the number one share, but everyone would rather be in Apple's spot! I agree that when Apple hits 20%, within 3 years it will mark MSFT's entry into the Dell category. I think it will take ten years to complete the euthanization, though.
  • Reply 16 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by heffeque View Post


    That market share is in the US. The rest of the world (and there's a lot of world out of the US) isn't really into Macs yet, but... give it some time :-)



    If Apple wants to increase the market share of Macs in Europe to that of the U.S., they could start by lowering the cost a bit.

    The cheapest iMac here in Germany costs $1760. That's almost 50% more than in the States. It's the same with all other Apple products.



    Sales tax here is 19%. So that doesn't explain it.

    Why does Apple slap another 30% on?
  • Reply 17 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by plus View Post


    Umm, assuming that someone who is "very satisfied" is more satisfied than someone who is "somewhat satisfied", then we can't have 80% very satisfied but only 18% who are at least somewhat satisfied. Saying "at least" means they are satisfied at least somewhat (and maybe more) ... and we already know that 80% polled as "very satisfied"!



    Judging from the actual ChangeWave data displayed later in the article, 98% of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied (80% very satisfied and an additional 18% who are (only) somewhat satisfied). The text should be changed ... e.g., "About 18% of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied" should read "An additional 18% of Mac users are at least somewhat satisfied."



    Stop being pedantic. Yes, it could have been written a bit better, but even a trained monkey understands the meaning.
  • Reply 18 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macosxp View Post


    And this trend is going to get stronger, not weaker, and Mac OS X market share will break WAY beyond 20%. You see, the way sales are going on now, the Mac market share should reach around 20% (or at least get close) in a few months. (with a side-effect of even MORE software being written for Mac.) And then when such a large amount of people are using Mac, all the Windows users who use it just because that is what is shown to them at Staples will open their eyes and realize that Mac OS X is an actual option to consider. After that happens, and it will likely be within one or two years, a LARGE portion of these Windows users who are fed up with Windows or Microsoft will begin using Macs, and that could make the Windows market share shrink to around 40% within a few years (with it slowly declining from there, unless Microsoft REALLY cleans up their act and makes a REALLY good OS without all the problems or high prices). Yup, that's the snowball effect for you, and it's very real.

    --



    What drugs are you taking? They seem fun...



    If Apple reaches 10% in "a few months" I'll eat my keyboard.
  • Reply 19 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Charko View Post


    If Apple wants to increase the market share of Macs in Europe to that of the U.S., they could start by lowering the cost a bit.

    The cheapest iMac here in Germany costs $1760. That's almost 50% more than in the States. It's the same with all other Apple products.



    Sales tax here is 19%. So that doesn't explain it.

    Why does Apple slap another 30% on?



    The exchange rate between the dollar and the euro is just one explanation. The other is that it's always been more expensive to buy Apple gear here in Europe. Mind you, it's not just Apple, I wanted to buy a bag to go with a MacBook, and it was exactly the same price to order it from the USA with a $40 shipping fee than buy it from an European retailer with a 7.5 euro shipping fee
  • Reply 20 of 34
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I'm crossig my fingers for a 13.4" MacBook. The 13.3" display is just too small for me.



    I'm hoping for a 337.82mm MacBook. It's about time they went metric.
Sign In or Register to comment.