Apple finally falls some with world economy
Although they have continued to hold up well when considering all product lines, the latest figures show that Apple Computer is finally feeling the effects of the recession in some areas.
For the first time in three years, Apple unit computer sales numbers for a month were off from that same month in the previous year. To be precise, unit computer sales for January 2009 were down 6 percent from January 2008, a fairly significant decrease. More bad news: according to the Wall Street Journal, the dollar value of Apple’s US retail sales dropped by 11 percent in January.
Oddly enough, Apple’s market share in real dollars fell only 13.7 percent in January, against 16.4 percent a year earlier. This comes during a month in which the unit sales of all brands of personal computers grew by 2 percent in January in the United States over a year ago, according to NPD.
The article said,”The data suggest that Apple’s premium pricing, which helped boost revenue when demand was strong, may be hurting the company now that consumers are being more careful about their spending amid the recession.” The sales of Apple’s computers had seemingly withstood the greater recession around it until this latest report of sales.
It should be noted that global computer sales for the Cupertino-based company, which is also the maker of iPod portable media players and iPhone cell phones, grew by 9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 from a year earlier. That was a truly respectable increase during a less-than-stellar economic period.
So far, it seems that Apple has done an excellent job of weathering the financial storms that have driven so many other companies into layoffs, plant closings, and even bankruptcy. The combination of solid, innovative products, plus high quality, have seen a number of companies through harsh financial times. If the powers that be can organize a fairly quick economic turnaround, Apple may come away from this recession relatively unscathed.
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