@itchytooth:

agreed

ferrdidly

@utube2007:

I totally agree, but that is not Apple's strategy. Same goes for any other high end product like Mercedes or Rolex. Their margins are much higher, but volume is lower. If you become obsessed with market share, you'll end up like Motorola.

You have to admit that Apple's 38% growth in Mac sales is quite impressive though, especially with the current economy. Typically, high volume/low price companies do better in a weak economy (see Wal-Mart).

justinpe

@baltwade: Apple has 38 percent growth to Dell and HP's 11 and 5 percent, respectively? I'm typing this from a Dell, BTW.

matt buchanan

@strider_mt2k: I had completely forgotten about that. Very nice.

@baltwade: I think he was just noting that Mac has made some pretty large strides in market share over the past year. Agreed, though, Apple has a long way to go compared to the "mojo" that Dell and HP have had for years and years.

ezman

@utube2007:

But monitors outlive computers, and the vast majority of computer purchasers are not first-time buyers. Granted, it's always nice to have a newer, nicer monitor, and for a first time buyer, it could be a deal breaker. If you haven't owned a computer before, one of those de-branded rigs that are always on various websites for just over $100 should do you fine, and that leaves plenty of money for a monitor.

So #3 in computer manufacturing, and #1 music retailer, #1 PMP maker, who also make the most talked about phone on the planet.

The presence of mojo is not up for debate.

nutbastard

@strider_mt2k: Best thing I've heard all day!

(Granted it's only 11:00, but still!)

92BuickLeSabre

@utube2007: Mac does have a $600 mini mac. That's affordable imo.

evangelistc01

@strider_mt2k: I lol'd.

evangelistc01

@RetepNamenots:

Agreed: Back in the Windows 3.1 days, Apple's margins put the Oil companies and Pharma to shame. An Apple monopoly would be pretty frightening. OTOH, it would probably give Linux a big push.

Serolf Divad

Thats wonderful but being realistic they wont get to number 1 because they dont offer cheap products.

You can say whatever you want about dell and hp i dont care but you can not get to the top unless you offer cheap stuff period.

Everybody in the country simply can't afford a mac plain and simple without apple changing their system to compete in the cheap market as well as the expensive market they wont get to number 1

Most Americans want cheap under 500 system that includes cpu monitor and everything else unless decides to include a monitor with the mac mini or make a cheap ass all in one they will never get to number 1. The majoirt of americans dont spend $1000 for a computer plain and simple.

utube2007

So Dell outsells Apple by a margin of almost 4:1 and HP out sells them by 3:1 and Apple barely edges out ACER and Apple is the one with the mojo?

Sure why not?

baltwade

I'm doing this because the joy it brings might help the site's karma.
Shhhh.

+ Watch video

strider_mt2k

No Doubt.

xCruciaLx

This reminds me of that horse race I went to one time where it was a photo finish and the first place horse won by a nose!

And the show horse made a nice run at the end...to finish 10 lengths behind.

And all of the other horses were dead.

92BuickLeSabre

@itchytooth: Everyone loves an underdog.

Joseph

Dells not gonna get knocked off any time soon. So many companies swear by Dell Products and Apple doesn't have an enterprise solution that is feasible for very large corporations.

Joseph

@RetepNamenots:

An Apple monopoly would be far worse than a Microsoft monopoly...

itchytooth

Great Job!

justinpe

I like their products - I'll have to buy one when I go back to university in September - But that doesn't mean that I agree with the way that they go about things. Coming from a background in Linux...

An Apple monopoly would be far worse than a Microsoft monopoly...

RetepNamenots

@baltwade: Must you be a dick? I mean seriously. Why come in and give a blog writer shit about a post? Let everyone who enjoys the news enjoy it.

Back on track, props to Apple. I bought 4 computers from them this year (2 Mac Pro's and 2 MacBook Pro's), 2 ipods, Studio 2, iWork, an iPhone 16GB and the Apple Extreme Wireless N router. Glad to see these purchases are making some sort of impact on the companies behalf.

imTheKing

@iCarmen 2.0-Yellow Free Edition!: By then I will become filthy rich off their stocks so who cares?

Noobs-R-Us

@strider_mt2k: Very nice, although I like De La Soul's take on this from 3 Feet High and Rising.

@justinpe: Agreed, I don't think apple will ever introduce a super-low cost computer to compete with the entry level offerings. I think its partly for economics (margins suck) and partly to maintain brand panache'. As soon a brands go down-market, mass market, etc. they have a brief moment of popularity, then just blend into the woodwork.

ARP

"Mac's marketshare is up two percent from last year, claiming 8.5 percent of the overall market"

Apparently they don't teach math at Blogging University.

Apple's marketshare is up *32%.* That's 2.1 POINTS higher than 07Q2.

jalarmo

@baltwade: Actually, according to plenty of financial models, that is 100% correct.

Unless you are a mom & pop privately-held outlet, growth is generally better than stagnation much less retreat regardless of absolute size.

92BuickLeSabre

Look, the bottom line in my opinion, is Apple will never become a large player in comparison to Dell and HP because of its OS. As long as the business and government communities use MS and Linux based OS's Apple is confined to a niche market. It will move up and down by a few points but will never move to the forefront. Once out of school, users are forced by large business and government institutions to use their "tools" and that means MS and Linux OS's not Apple.

dundermifflin

Curious to see the breakdown of business sales versus personal sales.

ljj

@baltwade:

"...thanks to a swoopy 38 percent growth in Mac sales." Duh. Read a little.

fivepoint

@matt buchanan: If I sold 10 widgets last month and sold 15 this month that's a 50% increase and if my competitor sold 100 widgets last month and 115 widgets this month then that's a mere %15 increase. So clearly I'm doing better than my competitor, because everyone knows 50% is better than 15%.

baltwade

Mark my words, Apple WILL become what they always set out to NOT be.
I love my Apple products, and it's orgasmic buying a new mac book pro or a new iPod or my iPhone...but they will become what they hate.

iCarmen 2.0-Yellow Free Edition!

Even more "3" goodness!

+ Watch video

SigmundTheSeaMonster

@strider_mt2k: I see what you did and raise you...three.

+ Watch video

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Dells profit margin is what - 6%? while Apple sits in the mid 20% range. Regardless of the number of units - Apple still wins.

regexp

@strider_mt2k: Why did I just watch that whole video?

Joseph

Apple bragging about being the #3 computer manufacturer is like Microsoft bragging about being the #3 digital audio/video player manufacturer.... pointless and misleading.

DaveExile

@Felix26591: well apple's virus free claim is mostly because of their low market share *braces for flame comeback* because the people who develop viruses want attention. well unless they have some sort of vendetta against apple.

lol123

@imTheKing: He's just pointing out how Apple's 38% growth is a mere fraction of Dell's 11% growth when taken to units.

Mio

@imTheKing: oh that was how they increased their sales 30%
seriously though, as much as i would never buy an apple product, good for them. they do have a ways to go if they want to become no. 2 though.

lol123

@baltwade:

If I am making $20 per widget while my competitor is making $6 per widget, I just increased my profits by $100 while my competitor only increased their profits by $90. And I only had to make 5 more computers while my competitor had to make 15 more.

justinpe

Apple sucks. They have no idea what they're doing. They'll be bankrupt in 3 years. Trust me. My dad works for a big company and he says that Apple's business model is all wrong.

BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Chester_Copperpot

Yeah exactly like justinpe, why should mac sell a lower cost PC when thee higher cost macs are selling like hotcakes right now and make more money for the company than a cheap PC by dell for example. Yeah it's true we see apple right now and like it but i wouldn't like mac as the leading computer manufacturer, they would suck, they would have so many monopolistic infringements that they'd have a group of lawyers so far up their ass 24/7 just waiting for the next court trial against them, apple is a good underdog and their way of selling their product only works when they have lower market, if they increase their market not only will their OS turn into a windows type OS, it's stability will degrade and the almost virus free would be a thing of the past.

Felix26591

@imTheKing:
"...these purchases are making some sort of impact ..."
Who knows, maybe some of that mojo might rub off on you !!!

/Very click advertising, Steve!

ANoel

@ARP: I actually spent a little while looking for a video of it to contribute, but none of the ones on Youtube were good.

itchytooth

im suprised lenovo isn't higher tbh

zsleek7

@justinpe: great explanation as well. It's like the guy at BMW told the lady next to me. We aren't going to start selling Honda Civic priced cars when we can easily sell our current luxury vehicles at a higher value. Doesn't matter if we only sell a few BMW M6's this year, the few sold will pay more than enough in revenue.

imTheKing

@vertigo: Acer bought up Gateway.

imTheKing

@Chester_Copperpot: Dad works for Dell? -(:-{D}

ps61318

Whatever happened to Gateway thing?

vertigo

How is Apple a monopoly???? Am able to run windows vista & Xp on my mac if i want to, am also able to ripped any CD and copy it to my ipod, heck i can even used it as a hardrive if i want, am also able to install itunes on my PC at work, Sure you can't run OS X on a PC but hey there's thousands of programs that only run on PCs so are they a monopoly also??? Am confuse or some people don't have a clue of what they're talking about sometimes??? which one is it???

snitch29

uh yeah, its either you get a dell or an HP
if you dont like windows you get a mac...

.... no suprise

thomusvoo

@DaveExile: Agreed

Sons of Norway

@SigmundTheSeaMonster: Oh man, that was great!

strider_mt2k

resell value

willyboy

@hellomms:

"Nothing to be proud of."

Being number one, and being proud of something are two different things.

justinpe

3/4??

there arent that many anyway. Gateway, Tangent, etc. dont count.

Nothing to be proud of.

hellomms

@iCarmen 2.0-Yellow Free Edition!: It all really depends on whether or not they aim for the lower-budget sector, where all of the cheaper Inspirons, Dimensions, ThinkCenters and so forth live. So long as they keep their business model planted firmly in hardware, and keep their product line focused, they just can't take the market like HP and Dell do. For now, we can just sit n' spin with our Macbooks and be happy :P

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

@lol123:

Are you suggesting that there is something flawed about security through obscurity? Even if they did become the number one computer manufacturer (will never happen) their OS market share would only be 30% at the most, leaving Windows on 70% of all other machines. Still more obscure, and still more secure, even as a hypothetical number one.

justinpe

@ANoel: What do you guys use in France? Tandy?

imTheKing

@MINI Driver: LMMFMacO.

I know it serves no purpose, but that's the first thing that came to mind.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

Amazing how a factual post with real numbers produces the usual lineup of suspects doing the 'these numbers been nothing' routine.

To be expected, certain folks have issues with accepting the reality of what is happening to Apple in the marketplace.

As for Apple products Vs Dell or HP - well, having used all three manufacturers hardware, I can say that the Apple product is better engineered, manufactured better, and lasts longer - FWIW

You get what you pay for.. etc etc etc...

MINI Driver

Just a matter of time before Macs become mainstream and we have Linux fanboys running around talking about all the extra features hipsters would have needs for.

But I own a Mac, so I suppose I'm a hypocrite. :D

eddiesmile

@Joseph: That is true i can see HP creeping up on dell and knocking it off its throne though. I doubt Apple is going to be able to pass dell any time soon. Mostly because dell's servers are the most popular out of all and now that they got alienware its going to be harder to knock em off since alienware is probably the best known gaming manufacturer next to voodoo and they do have some really good laptops.

SneakerFiend

@ANoel: was that an attempt at making a joke? The day you have anything useful to say is the day that Microsoft will make a solid product.

imTheKing

@imTheKing:
"What do you guys use in France? Tandy? "

Dunno what "they" use in France - probably what we use here, however,
I can tell you that,

Tandy is dandy,
but Apple is crapple.

Imagine Steve Martin reciting that... just for you .

+ Watch video

ANoel

@dOk: I'm very curious about these independent, unmarketed, uninfluenced, AynRandian programs you're running.

92BuickLeSabre

@dOk: They've just dug up a 4,000 year old mummy in Egypt, and in his hand was a papyrus scroll, and on that scroll was the argument you just used to justify buying a PC.

That's how old, and out of date, it is...

FYI.

MINI Driver

@Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!: Well said sir!

MINI Driver

@SneakerFiend: Ironically, Voodoo is now owned by HP ;)

comp_wiz101

@dOk: You're in luck! Apple lets third parties write Mac software! Whodathunkit?

someToast

While I don't like Apple that much, their economic growth is good, so I'm all for it. While that growth rate probably isn't sustainable in the long run, it will be interesting to see how much of the market share they can carve out in the short run.

makanai

@MINI Driver

"You get what you pay for.. etc etc etc..."

What I usually pay for is a PC that will run the apps that I want to run... not the ones the head of the company says I should run. :D

dOk

@nutbastard:

What i ment was that you find the average american whos by the way dumb as hell off the street that is not into computers or technology like people who visit this site are.

* Ask them where do you buy a computer

answer Best Buy or Circuit City

* Ask them how much they are willing to spend.

answer whats the cheapest or whatever is the cheapest with so and so features.

* Show them a computer section at any electronics store
show them a computer with monitor for 599 and show them computer with out monitor thats twice as fast for 599 and show them a mini computer thats 699, then ask them which they are going to buy or most likely buy.

answer

1 Why is the small one so much.
2 The 599 cheap one with monitor and everything else because more is better to them.
3 Ask you which is better and which would you get.

Dont even mention anything about purchasing online, they will probably give them cc info up to the first popup or site they find that sells a computer that looks good to them even if the site is unsecure and is selling knockoffs.

The plain and simple truth is the majority of people dont give a damn about what is better, the go by price, looks, the amount of stuff you get and maybe how much is the mail in rebate and then forget about 2 weeks later period!

utube2007

@imTheKing:
You're out of your league pal.
Drop it.

ANoel

that's impossible! based on pricing comparisons i always see "proving" Apple is massively and completely absurdly overpriced by *thousands* of dollars... i FULLY expected to see the ranking to be :

#1) computer i "built" myself using my l33t newegg-part-orderin' skillz.

#2) computer my nice son / weird uncle "built" me. ("he's going to be the next bill gates! he is so computer smart. he built this himself. i think he even engineered some of the parts! even saved extra money by using this cool penguin program.")

#3) Dell.

#4) HP.

#5) oh god please... ANYTHING but Apple.

...

#100,000,000) Crapples! LOL!!1 OMG!

x23

@Chester_Copperpot:

Apple sucks. They have no idea what they're doing. They'll be bankrupt in 3 years. Trust me. My dad works for a big company and he says that Apple's business model is all wrong.

your dad is Rob Enderle? Michael Dell? Paul Thurrott? John Dvorak?

Apple has nearly 2/3rds of its total assets in cash right now. that is a ridiculous amount... close to $19 billion in cash. they are media (and consumer) darlings for the most part. and are increasing marketshare. how does your dad reconcile this? in a mere 3 years they'll burn through all that money? have a catostrophic lose of iTunes & iPod revenue? and stop selling any and all computers? then go bankrupt? give me a break.

trust me. if your dad is more than a janitor at a "big company" i'd be surprised.

hasn't even been updated in over a year... still some hilarious quotes from days passed in here : [www.macobserver.com]

x23

Who let these people in here?

ANoel

I'm not sure about bankrupt, but I can see how Apple's business model will wear thin in a few years...oh gosh, it's really to bad you have to register your business model with the government and never every change it. I guess that means that Apple is doomed to failure, just the circle of life man *inhales sharply* the circle of life.

katsushiro

@x23: You know, he probably wasn't being serious. I believe those BLAH BLAH BLAH's are stand-ins for ye olde /sarcasm.

Of course, I could be wrong.

JustThisGuy

@x23: Ha ha you've been had.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

@utube2007:

I am with you completely. Of course, this is a good thing, as it keeps the company I work for in business, as we do repairs for extended warranties that these people also purchase.

If someone purchases a eMachine, Gateway, HP, etc. with an extended warranty, odds are they will talk to us at some point in time.

I have been with the company for over 5 years, and it still never ceases to amaze me how many people buy the extended warranty on a $300 system. Enough to where we service approx 250 systems a day nationwide.

GC736

So apple have narrowed Microsofts lead to only 90%. Well done. Microsoft must be shitting themselves.

ziffelbat

@ziffelbat: Look at purely personal computing - you know, the ones we pay for ourselves - and MS really should be dropping a Ballmer in the head.

MINI Driver

@SigmundTheSeaMonster: Sesame Street always explains to me why Americans are so fucked up. :D

DaSmith

@iCarmen 2.0-Yellow Free Edition!: You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

russdogg

So let's see that still means that 91.5% of the computers sold last year weren't Apple Macintrash computers. Phewwww!!! I was worried there for a moment.

DELL and HP/COMPAQ - 57.2% of computers sold. Wow.

No wonder they need to charge 2X as much for a Macintosh.

Nyle