Mac sales up 25% in Americas, 76% in Asia
While the bulk of attention in Apple's earnings was focused on iPhone sales, Apple also experienced dramatic growth in Macs, despite slow PC sales globally and a shrinking market for PCs in the US.
Apple's chief operating officer Timothy Cook noted during the company's earnings call that "the growth of the Mac has been enormous in Asia. The last quarter, we were up 76 percent in Asia-Pacific, and this is many multiples of the growth that that region is seeing for the market. I believe the IDC forecast is around 6 percent. And so we?re seeing enormous growth in the Mac there."
Cook also said that "Japan also did quite well on the Mac for the quarter, and the U.S. had a surprisingly strong quarter in the Mac, being up around? Americas was up 25 percent. The US was up just slightly higher than that."
Chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer stated in his prepared remarks that "we established a new March quarter record, with sales with 3.76 million Macs, representing 28 percent growth over the year-ago quarter. We?re extremely pleased with this very strong growth, particularly given IDC?s most recently published estimate of a 3 percent contraction for the PC market overall."
Oppenheimer added that Apple "experienced strong Mac sales growth in each of our operating segments, most notably in the Asia-Pacific segment," explaining that "growth in Mac sales was fueled primarily by the continued great popularity of MacBook Air, which was updated in the December quarter, as well as very strong sales of MacBook Pro"
Cook later reiterated the potential upside for Apple's expansion, given its relatively small share of the overall market. "Our market share is obviously less outside the US in most places than it is in the US," Cook said. "And so I think that speaks very, very well to the opportunity that the Mac has. We?ve now had 20 quarters in a row where we?ve outgrown the PC market. And the momentum is still there, and we seem to be the only guys that are really focused on building innovative products in that space."
Cook drew particular attention to the growth potential in China. "Our focus has very much been on China," he said. "We wanted to understand that market and understand the levers there. And as I?ve said before, iPhone sales were up over three times during the quarter.
"And in the first half, we did over five ? just slightly under $5 billion in Greater China in revenue, which is about 10 percent of Apple, to put it in perspective. And it wasn?t but a couple of years ago that that number would have been less than $2 billion. And so it has been a sea change."
Market research companies IDC and Gartner have reported conflicting numbers of PCs sold in the US and globally, estimating Apple's share of the US market between 8.5 and 9.3 percent of all PCs in the first calendar quarter, and reporting year over year growth of between 9.6 and 18.9 percent.
Apple notes that its Mac sales were up more than 25 percent in the US, far higher than the growth figures estimated by either IDC or Gartner. Neither firm reported an estimate of Apple's global sales or growth, as both consider the company to be outside of the top five PC vendors they publicly detail, a feat gerrymandered by adding in the sale of millions of netbook mini-notebooks by competitors while excluding iPad sales numbers. Apple does not mix iPad numbers into its PC sales.
Apple's chief operating officer Timothy Cook noted during the company's earnings call that "the growth of the Mac has been enormous in Asia. The last quarter, we were up 76 percent in Asia-Pacific, and this is many multiples of the growth that that region is seeing for the market. I believe the IDC forecast is around 6 percent. And so we?re seeing enormous growth in the Mac there."
Cook also said that "Japan also did quite well on the Mac for the quarter, and the U.S. had a surprisingly strong quarter in the Mac, being up around? Americas was up 25 percent. The US was up just slightly higher than that."
Chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer stated in his prepared remarks that "we established a new March quarter record, with sales with 3.76 million Macs, representing 28 percent growth over the year-ago quarter. We?re extremely pleased with this very strong growth, particularly given IDC?s most recently published estimate of a 3 percent contraction for the PC market overall."
Oppenheimer added that Apple "experienced strong Mac sales growth in each of our operating segments, most notably in the Asia-Pacific segment," explaining that "growth in Mac sales was fueled primarily by the continued great popularity of MacBook Air, which was updated in the December quarter, as well as very strong sales of MacBook Pro"
Cook later reiterated the potential upside for Apple's expansion, given its relatively small share of the overall market. "Our market share is obviously less outside the US in most places than it is in the US," Cook said. "And so I think that speaks very, very well to the opportunity that the Mac has. We?ve now had 20 quarters in a row where we?ve outgrown the PC market. And the momentum is still there, and we seem to be the only guys that are really focused on building innovative products in that space."
Cook drew particular attention to the growth potential in China. "Our focus has very much been on China," he said. "We wanted to understand that market and understand the levers there. And as I?ve said before, iPhone sales were up over three times during the quarter.
"And in the first half, we did over five ? just slightly under $5 billion in Greater China in revenue, which is about 10 percent of Apple, to put it in perspective. And it wasn?t but a couple of years ago that that number would have been less than $2 billion. And so it has been a sea change."
Market research companies IDC and Gartner have reported conflicting numbers of PCs sold in the US and globally, estimating Apple's share of the US market between 8.5 and 9.3 percent of all PCs in the first calendar quarter, and reporting year over year growth of between 9.6 and 18.9 percent.
Apple notes that its Mac sales were up more than 25 percent in the US, far higher than the growth figures estimated by either IDC or Gartner. Neither firm reported an estimate of Apple's global sales or growth, as both consider the company to be outside of the top five PC vendors they publicly detail, a feat gerrymandered by adding in the sale of millions of netbook mini-notebooks by competitors while excluding iPad sales numbers. Apple does not mix iPad numbers into its PC sales.
Comments
Here in Beiijing, the Airs are selling like hotcakes. I was also surprised to see how frequent the Airs are seen in the public.
I see a lot of the new MBAs, too, mostly the 11? model, but I can?t help but wonder if that?s because it stands out more than the others.
Just think about the valuation consequences of going from, say, 4% to 8% share globally...... drool.....
With increasing units sold (and the Research and Development costs already recovered), Apple can continue the trend of "reducing" the cost of the basic model in each product, e.g., the iMac, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro or even the white MacBook to gain more customers.
Technological breakthroughs in diskstorage, CPUs, etc. will make these products even cheaper (or at least more power at the same price) during each iteration.
With the increasing additional features of the Apple Ecosystem (Apps, Services, Apple Store, related products integration), the Macs products become even more attractive.
And with its current lower unit marketshare, Apple has more room for growth.
Apple Ecosystems
I'd like to see the charts with all real numbers plugged in. While I know that both companies use different methods and have different sources, how they can get the numbers so different is puzzling. Especially regarding Acer.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...PVGR3RlE&hl=en
IDC and Gartner data going back to 2004. Acer market growth for the last 6 quarters, 28.45%, 42.06%, 20.80%, 7.01%, -15.04%, -15.78%. Acer has basically declared a do-over. Google it, I'm not making it up. They are abandoning the netbook, and their first attempt at a tablet.
I've said this before and I'll say it again: the sleeper growth opportunity for Apple, given its 4-ish percent market share, is the Mac. Phenomenal room for growth, especially in the BRASICs, as they get wealthier.
Just think about the valuation consequences of going from, say, 4% to 8% share globally...... drool.....
I thought I'd read recently that the Mac market share is now around 15%? Maybe that's just in the US?
While status symbol is an important factor in consumer purchases, it is not the only motivating factor. The elite may be more prone to this, but even the "masses" are not immune to such aspiration.
Perceived value of a product, in this case the added value of the Apple Ecosystems (Apps, Services, Apple Store, products integration and interoperability) may be a motivating factor even among those who are not very rich to get into the Apple Ecosystems. The latter is consistent with the report that almost half of Apple products consumers, buying products through the Apple Stores are new consumers. They cannot be all rich. And this is true not only China but all over the world.
By the way, even in both scenario, at present, even in China, it is still a PC (non-Apple)-dominated market. Apple is just beginning to offer alternative choices to Chinese consumers who may buy Apple products as status symbol or for their perceived value.
As noted previously, because Apple currently has a lower marketshare, it has more room for growth, percentage wise. And of course, greater take of the overall profit margin, even if its unit marketshare is much lower.
Apple Ecosystems
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...PVGR3RlE&hl=en
IDC and Gartner data going back to 2004. Acer market growth for the last 6 quarters, 28.45%, 42.06%, 20.80%, 7.01%, -15.04%, -15.78%. Acer has basically declared a do-over. Google it, I'm not making it up. They are abandoning the netbook, and their first attempt at a tablet.
I think the netbook is a laptop that has a very low price to match its performance characteristics... rather than be classified as a tablet...which to most it is not... Not a touch screen model at all. Just for clarification, okay?
Aren't we all?
I thought I'd read recently that the Mac market share is now around 15%? Maybe that's just in the US?
I think you're probably confusing what I am saying with share of sales in just the US in just the last quarter.
I am referring to the share of the global PC market of computers sold in, say, the last few years. See for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_...ing_PC_vendors (Apple does not even figure in the top 5 in terms of global installed base.)
I would not be surprised if sales from Greater China region double over the next 12 months. They already sell more cars in China than in the US. So it should not be surprising if they sell more iPhones or Mac in China than in the US in the future. I would say the next 5 years would be very interesting to watch.
I agree.
People over here in the US are underestimating what's going on over there not just with the market potential for companies like Apple, but also in luxury goods, high-end cars, clean energy, aerospace, infrastructure spending, and so forth.
Aren't we all?
You beat me to it!
The article seems to validate the claim the asians are very smart!
Here in Beiijing, the Airs are selling like hotcakes. I was also surprised to see how frequent the Airs are seen in the public.
Yes, having an Apple is a status symbol in China, but...
With the increasing additional features of the Apple Ecosystem (Apps, Services, Apple Store, related products integration), the Macs products become even more attractive.
Puh-leeze! The truth is that barely anyone is running Mac OS X on their Macs in China. They are all running Windows. And there are only a few (official) Apple Stores in the whole country, so that isn't it either.
It's just a cool-looking computer!
I've said this before and I'll say it again: the sleeper growth opportunity for Apple, given its 4-ish percent market share, is the Mac. Phenomenal room for growth, especially in the BRASICs, as they get wealthier.
Just think about the valuation consequences of going from, say, 4% to 8% share globally...... drool.....
I have been arguing this for some time now.
One thing I have noted is that the "halo effect" has a time lag. Macs started picking up a bit a year or so after the iPod rage took in, and growth really kicked in after a few years. Again the growth accelerated after the iPhone had been on the market for a year or two. I expect a similar effect will take place with the iPad.
People use an iDevice for some period of time before they begin to think "Hey, this is great. Maybe I should try a Mac." This is what I call the "Halo lag" (please feel free to quote me on the term).
I expect that the same will be true for the iPad.
A couple of points are noteworthy here. The iDevice Halo has several vectors. Noted above are the device specific vectors. But there are also (somewhat related) Community-Specific vectors. The iPod halo mostly affected consumers. The iPhone began to penetrate the enterprise, and the iPad is heavily penetrating the enterprise. The enterprise reaction time (halo lag) is also slower than consumers, but I believe that Macs are seeing great growth in this segment.
Now there is also the China vector. My hypothesis is that over there, they will see the same experience as we have here - only a little later. However, it may be an even quicker ramp up.