Mac sales on the rise once again
Apple’s recent product line and price adjustments, as well as an encore performance of last year’s aggressive “Buy a Mac for College, Get a Free iPod touch” back-to-school promotion, are said to be driving a sustained return to positive unit volume growth.
Barrons, quoting data and analysis from NPD and Morgan Stanley, reports that sales of Apple’s iconic computers are again growing and quite nicely at least one analyst who has raised her second quarter estimate from 2.4 to 2.5 million units.
This relative surge comes on the heals of Apple’s unexpected and widely praised realignment and repricing of its MacBook Pro product line. Further, as the table below also shows, the company could also be experiencing upside from the recent Mac mini, iMac and Mac Pro desktop line refresh.
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Another factor thought to be boosting sales to levels not seen since last October is Apple’s widely praised back-to-school promotion, which pairs a new Mac purchase with a free 8GB iPod touch. A nearly identical promotion last year is believed to have played a significant role in boosting sales, heading into the holiday shopping period, which was (Apple aside) almost universally bad.
“Apple began to outperform the broader commercial PC segment—with commercial Mac shipments up 25 percent month-over-month in May versus market growth of just 1 percent,” says Huberty in a quote picked up by AppleInsider.
Thereupon, the analyst has increased her 2009 and 2010 calendar year Mac unit estimates to 10.2 million and 11.7 million, up from 9.7 million and 10.3 million, respectively.
What competition?
An interesting question at this juncture is, aside from waiting until Windows 7 ships just ahead of Christmas, do the PC makers have any other cards to play? That is, PC prices and margins have already been cut to the bone, and netbooks turned out to be just a flash in the pan.
We’re back to the situation where PCs are crap at any price. So, aside from a complete economic collapse, can anything stop Apple? I’m thinking Cupertino’s going to start turning more record sales and profits…
What’s your take?
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