Mac Laptop Retail Share: 35% Measured in Dollars
News Analysis. Mac laptops reached 20 percent U.S. retail market share in July and August, despite their higher selling prices. |
The average selling prices explain the even higher dollar share—35 percent, according to NPD. Put another way: For every three dollars spent on notebooks this summer, one was for an Apple portable. Shall I repeat that?
Apple's gains come even as Windows notebooks continue their pricing declines. Windows laptop ASPs dropped to $694 in July and August from $700 in June; in June 2007 they were $792. But Mac notebook ASPs were down, too, suggesting that lower-cost models—perhaps driven by back-to-school sales—were stronger sellers. Mac notebook ASPs were $1,471 during the two summer months, compared with $1,515 in June; in June 2007, they were $1,588.
Apple's lowest-cost laptop sells for $1,099. By comparison, most Windows OEMs offer at least one model below $500, with some laptops—and most certainly netbooks—selling for less than $300. The differences in absolute and average selling prices are apparent in year-over-year growth: Mac notebook revenues grew by 30 percent compared with 1.5 percent for Windows laptops. Unit growth was higher, too, 35 percent compared with 10 percent. That said, Windows portables are growing off a larger base than are Mac notebooks.
For all Apple's U.S. retail success, sales of low-cost notebooks, most with Windows, drive overall PC shipment growth, according to IDC. Apple's pricey models aren't what the majority of people are buying. IDC expects portable shipments to reach 148.2 million units this year. Worldwide year-over-year growth rate is expected to be 37.2 percent and a staggering 44.7 percent outside the United States.
There is no one reason for Apple's retail notebook sales surge. Among them:
- Apple retail stores
- Windows Vista's failure to drive PC sales
- Halo effect from iPod and, more recently, iPhone
- Resurgent brand, fed by the halo effect, Apple stores, and lots and lots of product advertising
Laptops are the crucial component to Apple quarterly sales results. During the second quarter, Apple portables accounted for the largest portion—$2.237 billion—of the $7.464 billion in revenue. The company shipped 1.55 million notebooks, compared with 943,000 desktops, the latter of which generated $1.373 billion in sales.
The question I posed earlier today, and I will repeat: Is Apple's notebook sales growth sustainable? Put another way: How much longer will people pay to be cool and for good design? Given dire consumer concerns about the U.S. economy and lower-cost portable trends, I answer no—unless Apple introduces a groundbreaking new product (multitouch tablet Mac, maybe) or lowers prices.
From a value perspective, Windows notebooks clobber Mac laptops when comparing current prices and features. Caveat. Before I continue: Style and size are also huge considerations, but they are subjective factors often mitigated by other things like budget. Here's how the midrange MacBook and Dell Inspiron compare, based on Apple Store and Dell direct pricing:
MacBook: $1,299; 2.4GHz Intel Core Duo processor; 13.3-inch display with 1,280-by-800 resolution; 2GB memory, Intel GMA X3100 graphics accelerator; 160GB hard drive; 8X double-layer DVD burner; Bluetooth 2.0; 802.11n Wi-Fi, Webcam; and Mac OS X 10.5.
Dell Inspiron 13: $769; 2GHz Intel Centrino (Core 2 Duo T5750); 13.3-inch display with 1,280-by-800 resolution; 3GB memory; Intel GMA X3100 graphics accelerator; 250GB hard drive; 8X double-layer DVD burner; 802.11n Wi-Fi; Webcam; and Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1.
As preconfigured, the Inspiron is $699, without Bluetooth and Webcam but with only 802.11g wireless. A 2.4GHz processor would raise the price to $874. Dell offers no matching Inspiron 13 configuration to the MacBook. Closest configuration would be $944, but with 1GB more system memory and 90GB more storage.
Which would you choose? The Macbook comes in white and the Inspiron 13 that I configured in Pacific blue. The Dell notebook weighs 4.9 pounds, and the Apple laptop 5 pounds. Most people—many of them not readers of this blog—would choose the lower-cost Dell. Looked at that way, it's quite remarkable that one out of every three dollars spent on laptops at U.S. retail is for a Mac laptop.
Related Posts:
- Apple Demands a High Price to Be Cool, Apple Watch, Sept. 26, 2008
- Putting Mac Selling Prices in Context, Apple Watch, Aug. 8, 2008
- Vista PCs: These Prices Are Insane!, Microsoft Watch, Aug. 5, 2008
- Should You Pay Twice as Much for a Mac?, Apple Watch, Aug. 5, 2008
- Can Price Cuts Get Apple 10% Share, Apple Watch, July 23, 2008
Comments (6)
It is not remarkable that Macs sell so well because even a rat can find its way thorough a complicated maze the third time.
Many buyers buy cheap Windows econoboxes and then find they must spend hours cleaning crapware from the computer. Then there is the yearly annuity to Norton for anti-virus; ditto for spyware and other such things. Then there is the constant need to defrag because Windows is an ancient junk software that cannot accomplish this automatically. Then there is the yearly requirement to reload the OS and all apps because of WinRot and other Registry anomalies.
By the time the person buys his third computer, he has become fed up with this routine of Redmond induced stupidity.
Most people gave up on cranking their cars and using out houses when better technology came around because it was (ahem) more convenient.
I submit that Windows users are getting tired of wasting their time being computer mechanics with the attendant time, expense and frustration. Many are willing to pay a bit extra to to have to undergo the nonsense each time they buy a computer.
Did I mention about all the printers, faxes and scanners that did (still do?) not work with Vista? How about UAC? Need more reasons to buy a Mac?
Conclusion: if your leisure time is computed at more than minimum wage, a Windows computer simply is badly spent money. It may be cheaper for a brief period of time but the Redmond Overhead Costs eat that advantage away quickly.
If you earn $75,000/year, the crapware cleanup probably wipes out any advantage in the first day.
Did I mention that a Vista computer even with SP1 is a slooooow piece of junk with all of its unnecessary overhead? If you doubt this, go to some of the gaming boards and read how much gamers hate Vista because is is so slooooooooooow compared to XP. (Did I mention that the fastest gaming computer is a Mac?
Posted by Jeremy W | September 27, 2008 3:43 PM
A friend of mine who is a recent convert to a MacBook Pro and an iPhone is switching back to a Windows based notebook. Why? He finds OS X unproductive (not from a features perspective), but from the point of usability. It slows down common task for him, he didn't specify what type of problems. But I have a good idea what they could be, the Finder is really a step back in comparison to Windows Explorer and many issues relate even to how users switch between applications and child windows. But that is just my opinion.
If Apple is so successful, why is there only one first generation MacBook Pro at my institution? People love value yes, but they want usability and features which the Mac offers. Yet I am seeing Vista based laptops popping up everyday. I am at home I will be carrying my camera this week to take some pics of the many Windows Vista notebooks I see everyday. Windows notebooks suggest that users are getting all the value they want that a MacBook or Pro would off and more. They don't need aesthetics or the fact that its a non Windows system to prove who they are.
People are enjoying their Windows based notebooks, a friend of mine recently bought one of those Inspiron notebooks with the built in Web Cam, Pentium Dual core, 2 GBs of RAM and Vista Home Premium. He called me over to check it out and I was impressed, we even ended up making a short movie. Thats just how seamless it was and Vista is at the heart of the experience. Perceptions continue to fester around Vista, but they are not affecting its adoption or consumers confidence in the many PC OEMs. Apple has a long way to go from 25 million to a billion, but I wish them all the best otherwise.
Posted by Andre Da Costa | September 28, 2008 10:16 AM
I'm using a MacBook Pro but run primarily Windows on it. The reason for buying it? Its one of the fastest laptops out there and with Bootcamp is a great Vista machine. A fair number of the folks I see in the airports using MacBook Pros are either running XP/Vista, or are using VMware Fusion/Parallels under OS/X to run XP/Vista and Office apps. So don't jump to the conclusion that just because we're using Apple hardware we've "defected" from XP/Vista...
Craig
P.S. The performance score for Vista on a MacBook Pro is 4.5; not many other laptops around that can post a number that good...
Posted by Craig B | September 28, 2008 11:55 PM
Hi Joe,
It's telling that you don't mention the reason behind the Mac(Book) success. (Except from a false assertion that it has something to do with fashion.)
Of course you know the reason, it isn't a difference in hardware, it's a difference in software.
People think (and rightly so) that Mac OS X is superior. They know that because they hear it from others. Some people even think that a Mac cannot crash and has zero problems.
It is this common perception, fueled by commercial advertising (only in the US) and endless word of mouth advertising, that makes the Mac successful.
It is difficult to admit Joe, but this is the current reality.
And Craig, yes almost everyone that buys a Mac runs Mac OS X. The web statistics are very clear on this point.
Posted by J | September 29, 2008 9:16 AM
Doesn't NPD's (USA-only) sales figures exclude sales made on Dell.com and HP.com?
Posted by JohnJ | September 30, 2008 4:46 PM
Use 5 computers... 3 are Macs (1 MacPro, 1 MacBook Pro, 1 iMac)... use XP on the first two, VISTA Home Basic on the iMac... they all work great with BootCamp and I do power user processing. Not unusual for me to have 10 Windows apps running concurrently with multiple folders-files open within some of them. High end Corel graphics software, Excel spreadsheets, Word docs, Tax software, ftp stuff, mp3 stuff... I really don't have much use for the Mac software at this point. Use the Mac to play DVD's though... 'cause WMP wants codecs typically... really, really dumb. On my Windows only machines I use and older version of Power DVD for movies, etc.
Posted by the "dd" | November 4, 2008 1:43 PM