Apple's holiday Mac sales flatline
Windows PC comeback
There's a good chance little Suzie won't get the Mac desktop she wanted for Christmas, according to industry bean-counter NPD. The firm's US sales statistics for November show Windows PCs retook ground against Macs in the lead-up to the holidays.
Mac sales were down 1 per cent November compared to 2007, while Windows PCs were up 7 per cent year-over-year. NPD credits Cupertino's lackluster performance on Apple being harder hit by declining desktop sales.
The total number of desktops pushed out in November dropped 20 per cent reports NPD, with Windows boxes falling 15 per cent and Mac desktop sales down a whopping 38 per cent year-over-year.
The notebook and netbook market remains red-hot. Apple notebook sales were up 22 per cent in November, while Windows PCs rose 15 per cent, according to NPD numbers.
On Cupertino's lack of growth this month, some are quick to point out that Apple had a fantastic October, outgrowing the market by almost 3X thanks to initial demand for its new model of MacBook.
Then there's the Macworld Expo opening January 5 with its usual promised trill of new Apple kit. While its perfectly logical Apple's premium-priced kit finds fewer customers in today's economy, the numbers could also be somewhat of a reflection of Mac owners doing their homework and waiting rather than a resurgence of Windows love. ®
COMMENTS
apple desktops
I bought my son a mac mini a couple of years ago, great for just going online, doing homework, etc., sort of like a desktop version of a netbook.
Also very small footprint and importantly for a bedroom device it's very quiet, agree it's well due a revamp though. Nice to see Dell and other seeing there's a market for this type of device as well
Little Suzie...
Who on earth buys their kid a mac desktop?
Seriously.
Seeing as the only decent desktops Apple produce are the Mac Pros which are a tad overpriced for the hardware they offer... and the rest iJUNK.
Seriously, I believe a mac laptop is the better Apple buy if Mac OS X is being contemplated as OS of choice. While I would buy (and have bought) an apple laptop, I would probably never buy an apple Desktop ever as a DIY one is cheaper. Or even something like a Dell, if you have to buy a pre-built system. And if you know where to look, you can still mac-ify it. And let's face it, the low end Apple ones are a crock of shite.
netbooks
As the article said netbooks are hot and Apple don't do one, well not at any sort of affordable price.
It never ceases to surprise me
That Christmas has become a dumping ground for what can easily become 'out of date' (whatever thats really supposed to mean) as newer technologies are brought to market in the earlier part of the following new year. For example the first MMX compatible processors, or was it Make Money at Xmas?
It never cease to amaze or amuse me that people who would usually suck air at high speed through gaps in their teeth at the thought of parting with a few quid any other time of year, shell out considerable amounts of cash on new PCs with a bumper pack of add on bollox or Macs at Christmas, knowing that those 24*7*365 support centres are going to be packed full of operators right on the edge of their seats to answer the call for help on Boxing day - not.
Im sure Apples desktop sales are suppressed due to a long overdue replacement mini at the entry end with a huge gap to the wallet emptying Mac Pro if you dont fancy an all in one iMac.
A new mac mini is just over the horizon on Jan 5th so mini sales are bound to be weak.
But no ones forcing you to buy Apple, its still a free country but only just...
@d
I see that you can actually copy & paste, what looks like another users views from a different subject.
How remarkably clever.
