What tech slowdown? Apple powers ahead
There have been numerous reports that the tech sector is the midst of a downturn. That portable netbooks in particular have experienced a big drop off in sales with manufacturers pulling in the face of large inventories. For our favorite fruit, on the contrary, things have never looked better.
With a backdrop of PC sales circling the bowl and Acer’s Stan Shih explaining away Apple’s successful products as mutant viruses, comes a pair of fresh market data reports that underscore just how good the times are for the company that Jobs built.
First up is some Gene Munster analysis of NPD data that posits Apple will have sold 3.8-million Macs by the end of the quarter, an increase of 23 percent over the same quarter last year and a 20-plus-percent sequential rise over the June quarter.
“That said, guidance of $18 (billion) implies sequential growth of just 15 percent vs. 25 percent in the year-ago quarter (with very similar product transition dynamics),” wrote Munster. “In other words, Apple’s strong guidance may prove to be conservative.”
To sum up, Apple’s surging Macs sales and still-strong iPod volumes already account for most of the guidance even before one reckons the iPhone and iPad into the mix. Word.
Is there any bad news at all?
For its part, a Hudson Square survey of 200-plus students at seven colleges reveals that Apple’s gaining on that front, as well.
Whereas spending patterns were mixed — fewer PCs and MP3 players, more TVs, mobile phones and digital cameras — “Apple’s share of student spending,” wrote Hudson Square’s Daniel Ernst, “increased materially.”
Thereupon, 51 percent of students own a Mac and 95 percent of those with a media player have an iPod. Further, 41 percent of mobile handset purchases by students were iPhones.
This mirrors Student Monitor data from August showing Mac penetration in higher education at around 47 percent, well ahead of both Dell and HP.
Add to this slew of good news, a recent Blorge write up highlighting surging Mac sales to government and enterprises.
I’ve said it before and it’s never been truer than right now — PCs suck at any price, especially in this bad economy…
What’s your take?
September 14th, 2010
PCs suck at any price about sums it up…
They could give them away and I would still go buy a Mac to use instead…After nearly 20 years of being stuck in Windoze hell, thankfully a friend of mine held an intervention and helped me kick that nasty Windoze habit…Never going back, been down that dirty road!
September 14th, 2010
Yes like they’re giving away KrackBerry and Androids 2 for 1..
September 15th, 2010
Congrats JT. I had a PC at work, but I gave it back.
September 16th, 2010
Damn you guys have mind issues don’t you?
Macs suck for many reasons and I won’t explain my point of view here. “PCs” as you call them also suck since they are all made to be pieces of crap that have to be replaces every few years unless you know how to take care of them.
The only thing that doesn’t suck is making your own computer/laptop.
As for mobile devices, iPods suck and are owned by FAR by Microsoft’s Zune HD as an mp3/mp4 player…forget about the apps…the Apple AppStore is full of fart apps anyways.
Now, mobile phones, Android owns by far for having such a big variety of devices and flavors whereas iPhones are stuck to the same device (which isn’t bad but isn’t good either)
In the end, the biggest ripoff by Apple was the iPad, an overdosed iPod Touch that has nothing else by a 3G chip to enable internet anywhere you go…it still is a huge device that isn’t powerful (or useful) enough to be a laptop nor is it small enough to be a pocket device…it’s a nuisance, nothing more, nothing less.
The only thing Apple is good at is marketing and students being as naive as they are (I am a student btw, just not naive) they just get what the hell they know about, which is iPods and iPhones and iMacs and i.. and i…. leave that letter alone Apple….