Huh? I thought optimized, build-to-order production is Dell's defining characteristic and strongest point. That is how they earned their fame and marketshare, anyway.
There is a big difference between capacity and inventory. Just because Dell doesn't have a bunch of unsold inventory sitting around doesn't mean that they don't have a lot of underutilized capacity.
Let's remember that these are for custom MacBooks from Apple's online store. You can probably still buy a "stock" version very quickly at any CompUSA, brick and mortar Apple Store, MacMall, etc.
WHAT CAN YOU CUSTOMIZE ON A MACBOOK!?! RAM and HD is about it. So there really is no custom orders. I think they are maxxing their manufacturing capacity. That's why they're looking for a third manufacturer.
Why you may find a Macbook at a retailer, is because that retailer may have luckily ordered enough stock ahead of time when there was no shortage.
If you take 800,000 units at 12% of the total market, you're looking at roughly 6.7mil/quarter total sales - Apple would have to ramp up production 205,000 units - and that's a 25% increase over current levels.
Seems aggressive to me.
If they are doing 800k with 2 manufacturers, then a third only doing 200k is reasonable. I guess people just have to keep buying them.
How many people, after having placed an order are going to cancel the order and go shopping for a new one? I doubt anybody would. Especcially if it's a macBook.
Exactly. There may be a few who are in a real rush and will go with Dell or some other PC maker, but I'd imagine the average Joe who wants to buy a MB will either wait or upgrade to a MBP (if they don't mind spending more money). People know how great a deal the MB is - it's worth the wait.
Looking forward to seeing the market share data in the coming quarters...
Given a static market. In an expanding market, they'd have to sell even more.
BTW, and easier way to do you math would have been to realize that increasing from 12% to 15% means increasing 25%. No need to extrapolate the 6.7 million figure.
I threw the number in there b/c it helps (at least it helped me) put this into perspective - selling 200,000 more notebooks in one quarter is a big task.
And next time I'll build in an estimated growth rate, and hell, I'll calculate a DCF, maybe even do a comparables analysis...
If you take 800,000 units at 12% of the total market, you're looking at roughly 6.7mil/quarter total sales - Apple would have to ramp up production 205,000 units - and that's a 25% increase over current levels.
Seems aggressive to me.
That's by no means impossible.
If you look back over the past two years, you will notice that, except for the change to the Intel machines over the time of the past two quarters, Apple's computer sales had been rising 30%, or more, a quarter, year over year. The sales went up 5% for the March quarter, and 12% for the June quarter. The quarter over sales for the past two quarters was 19%. It could easily be higher for the September quarter. As a larger proportion of sales seem to be laptop sales, an increase of an additional 25% is within reason. Certainly enough of a reason for Apple to try to find additional manufacturing resources.
I wonder if the high demand is why there is little advertising outside the mac publications. Everyone who has seen and played on my macbook wants one. Imagine the demand if everyone knew about them!
Exactly. There may be a few who are in a real rush and will go with Dell or some other PC maker, but I'd imagine the average Joe who wants to buy a MB will either wait or upgrade to a MBP (if they don't mind spending more money). People know how great a deal the MB is - it's worth the wait.
Looking forward to seeing the market share data in the coming quarters...
I think just the opposite. I know of two people who were thinking of switching from a ThinkPad to a MacBook Pro that got pissed off and bought a Dell instead. And now they love their Dell (cognitive dissonance?) and claim they're glad they never bought from Apple. Not only are they not switchers, their Dell-buying actions have gotten positive reinforcement and now they're significantly less likely to buy from Apple next time, all things considered.
It really, really does hurt Apple when they can't ship stock systems (or slightly modified, like having a reasonable amount of RAM) the next day. There are Mac fanatics who wait (and post here), but the average student is NOT going to sit through two weeks of classes (which cost more than the laptop they're ordering) without a computer because Apple can't get its act together.
I think just the opposite. I know of two people who were thinking of switching from a ThinkPad to a MacBook Pro that got pissed off and bought a Dell instead. And now they love their Dell (cognitive dissonance?) and claim they're glad they never bought from Apple. Not only are they not switchers, their Dell-buying actions have gotten positive reinforcement and now they're significantly less likely to buy from Apple next time, all things considered.
It really, really does hurt Apple when they can't ship stock systems (or slightly modified, like having a reasonable amount of RAM) the next day. There are Mac fanatics who wait (and post here), but the average student is NOT going to sit through two weeks of classes (which cost more than the laptop they're ordering) without a computer because Apple can't get its act together.
If they were so eager to buy Dell, then I have no doubt they were not serious about buying Apple. Their batteries will blow up in their laps.
I wonder if the high demand is why there is little advertising outside the mac publications. Everyone who has seen and played on my macbook wants one. Imagine the demand if everyone knew about them!
Apple's history is that they rarely advertise outside of Mac publications, and when they do, it's for a short time.
They have been criticized for that over the years as preaching to the already converted.
For your information, I've been a registered member for a while. I was attempting to let the editor and the writer know that there was an error because I'm sure they are also concerned about clarity. Notice that I did not attack anyone's ability to write, or the value of what was said. I'd never correct another poster for an error like this, unless like me, they were trying to correct something and got it slightly wrong themselves.
Meelash is right that "have been an upward trend" would be clearer as "have shown an upward trend." Or you could say "are trending upward" if you want to use business-speak.
Comments
Huh? I thought optimized, build-to-order production is Dell's defining characteristic and strongest point. That is how they earned their fame and marketshare, anyway.
There is a big difference between capacity and inventory. Just because Dell doesn't have a bunch of unsold inventory sitting around doesn't mean that they don't have a lot of underutilized capacity.
Let's remember that these are for custom MacBooks from Apple's online store. You can probably still buy a "stock" version very quickly at any CompUSA, brick and mortar Apple Store, MacMall, etc.
WHAT CAN YOU CUSTOMIZE ON A MACBOOK!?! RAM and HD is about it. So there really is no custom orders. I think they are maxxing their manufacturing capacity. That's why they're looking for a third manufacturer.
Why you may find a Macbook at a retailer, is because that retailer may have luckily ordered enough stock ahead of time when there was no shortage.
If you take 800,000 units at 12% of the total market, you're looking at roughly 6.7mil/quarter total sales - Apple would have to ramp up production 205,000 units - and that's a 25% increase over current levels.
Seems aggressive to me.
If they are doing 800k with 2 manufacturers, then a third only doing 200k is reasonable. I guess people just have to keep buying them.
How many people, after having placed an order are going to cancel the order and go shopping for a new one? I doubt anybody would. Especcially if it's a macBook.
Exactly. There may be a few who are in a real rush and will go with Dell or some other PC maker, but I'd imagine the average Joe who wants to buy a MB will either wait or upgrade to a MBP (if they don't mind spending more money). People know how great a deal the MB is - it's worth the wait.
Looking forward to seeing the market share data in the coming quarters...
Given a static market. In an expanding market, they'd have to sell even more.
BTW, and easier way to do you math would have been to realize that increasing from 12% to 15% means increasing 25%. No need to extrapolate the 6.7 million figure.
I threw the number in there b/c it helps (at least it helped me) put this into perspective - selling 200,000 more notebooks in one quarter is a big task.
And next time I'll build in an estimated growth rate, and hell, I'll calculate a DCF, maybe even do a comparables analysis...
If you take 800,000 units at 12% of the total market, you're looking at roughly 6.7mil/quarter total sales - Apple would have to ramp up production 205,000 units - and that's a 25% increase over current levels.
Seems aggressive to me.
That's by no means impossible.
If you look back over the past two years, you will notice that, except for the change to the Intel machines over the time of the past two quarters, Apple's computer sales had been rising 30%, or more, a quarter, year over year. The sales went up 5% for the March quarter, and 12% for the June quarter. The quarter over sales for the past two quarters was 19%. It could easily be higher for the September quarter. As a larger proportion of sales seem to be laptop sales, an increase of an additional 25% is within reason. Certainly enough of a reason for Apple to try to find additional manufacturing resources.
I know a grumpy person because of it.
Exactly. There may be a few who are in a real rush and will go with Dell or some other PC maker, but I'd imagine the average Joe who wants to buy a MB will either wait or upgrade to a MBP (if they don't mind spending more money). People know how great a deal the MB is - it's worth the wait.
Looking forward to seeing the market share data in the coming quarters...
I think just the opposite. I know of two people who were thinking of switching from a ThinkPad to a MacBook Pro that got pissed off and bought a Dell instead. And now they love their Dell (cognitive dissonance?) and claim they're glad they never bought from Apple. Not only are they not switchers, their Dell-buying actions have gotten positive reinforcement and now they're significantly less likely to buy from Apple next time, all things considered.
It really, really does hurt Apple when they can't ship stock systems (or slightly modified, like having a reasonable amount of RAM) the next day. There are Mac fanatics who wait (and post here), but the average student is NOT going to sit through two weeks of classes (which cost more than the laptop they're ordering) without a computer because Apple can't get its act together.
I think just the opposite. I know of two people who were thinking of switching from a ThinkPad to a MacBook Pro that got pissed off and bought a Dell instead. And now they love their Dell (cognitive dissonance?) and claim they're glad they never bought from Apple. Not only are they not switchers, their Dell-buying actions have gotten positive reinforcement and now they're significantly less likely to buy from Apple next time, all things considered.
It really, really does hurt Apple when they can't ship stock systems (or slightly modified, like having a reasonable amount of RAM) the next day. There are Mac fanatics who wait (and post here), but the average student is NOT going to sit through two weeks of classes (which cost more than the laptop they're ordering) without a computer because Apple can't get its act together.
If they were so eager to buy Dell, then I have no doubt they were not serious about buying Apple. Their batteries will blow up in their laps.
who were thinking of switching from a ThinkPad to a MacBook Pro
They were thinking of switching, or they ordered and cancelled? Not to mention that the plural of anecdote is not data.
I wonder if the high demand is why there is little advertising outside the mac publications. Everyone who has seen and played on my macbook wants one. Imagine the demand if everyone knew about them!
Apple's history is that they rarely advertise outside of Mac publications, and when they do, it's for a short time.
They have been criticized for that over the years as preaching to the already converted.
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been on the up and up this year
This implies that the sales have been honest or legitimate. I believe the author means:
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been on the up tick this year
or
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been an upward trend this year
The article says:
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been on the up and up this year
This implies that the sales have been honest or legitimate. I believe the author means:
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been on the up tick this year
or
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been an upward trend this year
You registered just so you could point out AI's obviously incapability of writing a good article?
You registered just so you could point out AI's obviously incapability of writing a good article?
He was really, really, really upset about it.
The article says:
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been on the up and up this year
This implies that the sales have been honest or legitimate. I believe the author means:
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been on the up tick this year
or
sales of Apple's notebook computers have been an upward trend this year
that should be "have shown an upward trend".
So there.
He was really, really, really upset about it.
ME TOO!!!
For your information, I've been a registered member for a while. I was attempting to let the editor and the writer know that there was an error because I'm sure they are also concerned about clarity. Notice that I did not attack anyone's ability to write, or the value of what was said. I'd never correct another poster for an error like this, unless like me, they were trying to correct something and got it slightly wrong themselves.
Meelash is right that "have been an upward trend" would be clearer as "have shown an upward trend." Or you could say "are trending upward" if you want to use business-speak.
You registered just so you could point out AI's obviously incapability of writing a good article?
Check out your "obviously incapability" to proofread your posts, 'kay?