Reports: Apple is No. 3 PC maker in U.S., No. 6 worldwide

Tale of 4 PCs.
In the last 15 months I have purchased 4 new PCs, 1 Dell Desktop, 1 Dell Laptop, 1 HP Laptop and 1 17″ IMAC. The IMAC was recommended for use for my daughter in a design program. The IMAC cost the same as the other 3 computers combined. 3 months after I bought it, apple announced they were discontinuing the 17″ model and dropped the price $400. All of the software I buy for the Mac is at a premium versus the same Windows product. The MAC has been serviced twice, where as the other 3 PCs just keep on ticking. Don’t wan’t to beat up on the MAC, but I just don’t get it. I am still waiting to feel the magic.

What are we comparing? Worldwide sales of PC has gone up by about 16% or 11 million units in 2Q08. Apple sold a total of 1.3 million units during the same time.

I love mac for their look and show off but they are not for everyone.

Eric, Cincinnati:

“Apple is doing great in the U.S., but outside the U.S. they are not making the cut as much as all the other players.”

HP and Dell’s global market shares are way lower than their domestic market shares, so yes, Apple is making the cut as much as the other players.

“Plus they do not have their OS in many different languages if at all.”

Plus you’ve never actually installed OS X before, since it prompts you at the beginning to select a language. Plus you’ve never actually used a Cocoa app, all which have automatic support for internationalization. And unlike Microsoft, which charges users for different languages — considering them separate editions, any copy of OS X can operate under any language it supports. I could go home and switch my Mac to Swahili or Traditional Chinese if I wanted to. Can’t do that at work though on my Windoze box.

It’s good to see the Mac gain market share, especially since Apple isn’t fully dedicated to their Macs anymore. But I don’t really care all that much what other people use, Macs could have 1% market share and it wouldn’t worry me. In less than 10 years probably more than half the applications you use daily will be web-based so it won’t matter which computer you’re using. In addition, the other half of your programs will be running on interpreted bytecode which will be OS-agnostic.

By the way, Packard Bell hasn’t been sold in the US since I was in middle school. Not exactly something to brag about when you outsell them.

I made the move to Mac with the intel processor and the ability to run both operating systems on one computer. As a web developer this ideal for so many reasons more than making up for higher price of Mac. Add to that the Linux kernel of the Mac and I have three OS. Also the included programs for Mac are great.

I have been using a windows PC since my colleegiate days. I switched to Linux over 10 years ago and never looked back. At the moment I am waiting for my Macbook.

Windows in all its incarnations is simply the worst OS on the planet. Now I will never have to deal with it again. My Linux box and Macbook are all I need. I use Windows at work but it will never soil my home IT environment again.

Steve Jobs is a genuis, somewhat flawed and arrogant but then which genius isn’t?

I am not to sure why there is a comparison drawn between Apple and Microsoft as businesses. First of all, Apple wouldn’t even be in business anymore if it weren’t for Microsoft. This is an admission of Steve Jobs himself at the D5 Conference(http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070530/d5-gates-jobs-interview/ ). When coming back to Apple the first person Jobs called was Gates. Microsoft has a lot to do with OS X believe it or not… Microsoft and Apple have a strong partnership. Also, Windows is a very small part of Microsoft’s business; smaller than Office. Keep in mind that Microsoft is a software company that creates software for manufacturing tools and robots and many other industries. PC software is just another industry for Microsoft. This being said, Apple is primarily a hardware company and probably the best one out there! Apple is limited to the PC market only.

These companies are two entirely different beasts and should never be compared.

Like many of you I am ready for Windows to be replaced by a superior OS, but being a programmer, OS X isn’t the one.

See I feel that all this bickering is kind of silly between Mac and PC users. Personally I prefer a PC just because I do not like the set up and user-interface of a Mac. But I can recognize that a Mac is a better machine for certain things, movies, pictures, and music, while a PC has more readily accesible programs for businesses and students and things of that sort. While the Mac is catching up in that department they still do lag behind to a degree. Also as a gamer, I can’t really only use a Mac because the majority of games are not put out for Macs. Basically, I feel like we spend too much time arguing about this when a lot of it just comes down to simple personal needs and preferance. Because, in the long run, we’re not all ever going to like the same thing and different people are always going to think that one is better than the other for their own reasons. Just acknowledge both, and move on.

Yes, the growth trend is positive. But remember these numbers are dominated by sales to corporations, including Intel-based servers, cash registers, kiosks, and airport terminals. So they will always understate the Mac’s share of consumers (home use).

And these numbers only focus on new sales. Given that other studies have shown that Macs are kept in use much longer than PCs, the overall Mac user base is continuing to grow as well.

“Everytime I purchase a new one, seems in 6 months that the operating system is out of date. Now they have changed the .mac email and website and my OS 10.3.9 will not allow me to use all the new gadgets that are on mobileme.com.”

Let’s see, 10.3 was released in October 2003. And you want new software released this month, almost five years later, to work with it. Unbelievable. Yes, Windows is much better for you since it took Microsoft 5 years to deliver a warmed-over XP upgrade (nee Vista).

By the way, 10.4 was released in April 2005, and 10.5 in Oct 2007. If you think those three upgrades came at 6 month intervals, then either you’ve figured out how to slow down time, or you’re a liar. Of course, you could just be a troll…

“The author states if you add in Ipods and Iphones it is a new ball game, he is partly right. Apple would gain ground, but if you did this then you have to include every Windows mobile device and mp3 players that use the Windows mobile platform.”

Do you know what the relationship of Windows Mobile is to Windows? Go do some research (see wikipedia or roughlydrafted.com). It’s just called “Windows” Mobile as a marketing pitch. It’s absolutely nothing like the relationship of the OS Xs on Macs and iPhones/iPod touch.

“Plus they do not have their OS in many different languages if at all.” Well, I guess the French, Chinese, and Japanese use the Mac in English, and Apple’s Mac OS website must be lying. Or was Eric referring to the Apple II OS?

Combined with his 2% global market comment, we now know Eric speaks from total ignorance.

I’m glad Apple is doing so well in the market place. This is good for computing in general as competition keeps everybody on their toes and always striving to improve things. I wouldn’t mind if the market ends up with 1/3 Windows, 1/3 Mac, and 1/3 Linux. It would drive the hackers and virus writers nuts while making sure all consumers had the best systems for their hard earned cash.

Apple customer service is pretty good. For example, most hard core folks know that Mobile Me had some problems with being a day or two late and freaking out on some web apps. So my thought was “whatever”, “it happens with beta”.

But yesterday I got an email telling me that my subscription has been extended a full month because of the problems.

I didn’t even complain! Still they gave me the extra month, just in case I was inconvenienced and maybe lost some of what I had paid for.

That sort of treatment is the reason Apple cult followers complain so much about little things. We complain because Apple traditionally listens, and responds in a fair manner. I think a lot of that is a reflection of Steve Jobs. The divine one is a pretty fair guy. He might be a bit sneaky and strange, but he is basically fair, and honest.

Mark: Maybe it was just the two N95’s i have ever sat down and tried to use that didn’t work. Perhaps the rest work fine.

Was a windows guy cause it used to be better up until jaguar on Intel. Apple’s technology with linux is years ahead of Apple now. Windows 7 will be another version of the vista crap. No thanks. I can run it in dual boot if I want, actually erased it as it is now redundant. Basically, windows technology is now second class. If they drop their price, they will kill HP (who make crappy computers btw). Dell is even worse junk. I had one dimension, what crap.

I can say I mistakenly bought an iPhone ‘App’ from the ‘App Store’, said so, Apple replied the very same day, and the money (a piddling $10) was refunded by Wednesday.

That is great customer service by any standards and they did this on their busiest day in their history.

They’ve won me over.

The free Apps make the iPhone almost free. If Apple had charged $5 for the 200 free apps, it wou;d have cost $1,000. So you are getting $1,000 worth of free Apps with an iPhone purchase. And there are more free Apps coming in the future. The iPhone is worth every penny.
Check out this blog: http://www.sports–today.blogspot.com

“See like Apple news has been all good for some time and yet the stock has stayed pretty static during this period. Why?”

1) have you noticed the stock market “during this time”
2) have you seen Microsoft stock price over the past 5 years?

I’m a PC user. Literally just got off the phone buying a new dell laptop. I was really tempted to get an Apple, but for this use the price difference was more than I could shake. Of course I did do the savior “upgrade” to XP.

And I’ll be using crayon’s mostly for graphics. When I do real graphics, video editing, etc., I use a Mac. Why are Mac screens more expensive? Color rendition and graphics quality.

What a bunch of pissy whiners we PC users are. I don’t get why if Apple does well, takes market share, beats Acer or Dell or whomever, it somehow reflects badly on the size of your man-parts. Grow a pair, friend. If you make a decision and someone suggests the alternate is superior, get over it. Suggests you lack confidence in that decision.

I’ve been a PC user since the old 486 days up until a year ago. I was a die hard PC user, worked in IT, built my own machines blah blah blah. I got fed up with the crashes and slowness of windows and switched. Love my Mac and will never go back to windows…not as long as the have that damn registry…
As for Apples market share, they are gaining, that’s the point. so its only 8% but look how much they’ve grown in a short amount of time. and as for business still using windows? That is switching too. I work for a very large fortune 500 company and we’re replacing all servers with Linux. the monthly “Maintenance weekends” our company even starting bringing in Macs for the end user since now you can configure with exchange server and run office. Give it 5-10 years, I predict Macwill surpass windows.

Actually here in Australia apple is making huge inroads. Most media have switched to mac whole government departments ie Queensland police have moved across you see power books everywhere and in the edu macs are everywhere.

As I write this I am waiting for shipment of my first Mac; a MacPro Dual Quad Core Xeon w/6GB. My wife has been a Mac user for many years. Her old G4 crashed only TWICE in 5 years. (I don’t know any Windows user that can say that, myself included.) Her MacPro runs flawlessly.
I have been using and building PC’s since my ancient 386 (before that I had a Commodore). I am leaving Windows because I am so very tired of chasing down error messages and blue screens. It took a LOT to bring me to this point. I do digital photography and graphics, so this adds to my decision.
I am also investing in myself. Years ago we bought 100 shares of Apple for 30+ a share. Now, with splits we have 400 and it closed today at a bit over 171.
I can say that a lot of other folks I know are doing the same; some of these people work in our IT department and and leaving Windows behind for some of the same reasons. Sure, I am making a leap, but it can’t be worse that any form of Windows code.

Yey - Apple is doing well - but then why did they treat so many of their .mac customers with the PR tactic of avoidance? Their mobileME launch has been deeply troubling and as I’ve said here and over on iReport, it cause my websites to be un-updated for nearly a week. When you’re a blogger, well, it cuts into your readership if you can’t, well, blog.

I worry that their growth may lead to further deafness. Let’s hope they keep it all in check and remember everyone who’s believed in them for all these years.

It is good to see some positive aspects from people around Vista. Having used the OS since March last year, I can only say that i have been constantly ‘wowed’ for the last 16 months or so as I discover the bits that MS don’t crow about. For a while I thought I must be mad because of the amount of negative press Vista was getting when I was pretty much saying ‘Wow’ ever other time I used it. I do like the Apple concept and I know that Leopard is good but …. it is a shadow of the Vista offering and I think the share and market penetration demonstrate this well.

“The author states if you add in Ipods and Iphones it is a new ball game, he is partly right. Apple would gain ground, but if you did this then you have to include every Windows mobile device and mp3 players that use the Windows mobile platform.”

even if they added just iphones in, then forget the mp3 players that use windows mobile.. the iphone is a computer..

After ordering a Dell and being strung along (told there was a 6 week delay on batteries. Dealing with Gupta and Punjab in india sealed the deal. I cancelled the order and bought an iBook.

Considering I purchase between 30 and 80 laptops per year…Dell’s Loss.

*Yawn*

The story here is: Despite an expensive advertising campaign trashing Vitsa Apple have still failed to enter the world’s top 5 and managed to sell an additional 300K units in he US compared to this time last year as opposed to the additional 500K Dell sold.

Move along, nothing to see here.

As for the N95, cynik, it has impressive numbers precisely because it does work. That’s rather the point.

@Charlotte,NC
Last year 93.6% of computer sales did not belong to Apple. What’s for next year? 89%? It’s called GROWTH.

PCs are sold by numerous manufacturers. Macs are sold only by Apple. Eight percent of the total computer market may be a big deal to the author, but the majority of us are not impressed.

Now if Macs were to become more competitive price-wise, I might consider buying one. But for now I’ll conduct business on a PC and buy a box of crayons for the artsy stuff. They’re way less expensive.

Apple’s low market share in computers is a major reason this stock is going to double in two years or less. Every new purchase of an iPod or an iPhone brings more new customers into their fantastic stores, where they see past the warped propaganda of the PC die-hards. Those new potential customers become converts to the Mac, and a little bit more of the anti-Mac pixie dust dissipates.

Apple’s on a roll, plain and simple, and the momentum’s not slowing down - it’s building. Buy the stock now, while it’s still cheap.

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?

Who the heck buys an ACER?

PUMP, PUMP, PUMP….

“Mac news from outside the reality distortion field
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt”

What a bunch of NONSENSE

I have been an Mac fan since 2000, but I am about to change my tune. Everytime I purchase a new one, seems in 6 months that the operating system is out of date. Now they have changed the .mac email and website and my OS 10.3.9 will not allow me to use all the new gadgets that are on mobileme.com. Getting a little weary of this kind of stuff myself.

The author states if you add in Ipods and Iphones it is a new ball game, he is partly right. Apple would gain ground, but if you did this then you have to include every Windows mobile device and mp3 players that use the Windows mobile platform.

While Mac has a larger market share, it still does not mean that the importance of the MAC OSX will outshine windows at all. Business, and I am a first hand witness of this, tend to choose PC over MAC and will continue to do so. Personally, I’m not a MAC fan, I still use my good ol’ XP system…though Vista leaves a lot to be desired among PC users. However, MAC stock continues to climb mainly due to speculation and its grasp on other markets such as MP3 (iPod) and cellular phones (iPhone). Other computer companies such as Dell and HP have barely touched the market, even though Dell announced it was working on something to compete with the iPhone…(Haven’t heard that one before.) AAPL, good stock, but I’d wait for it to go down a little more before re-investing in there.

Good for you, I switched from Apple to Vista and have been happy ever since. Its been nice not having boatloads of updates being pushed down to me from Apple every other week it seemed. Welcome to the world of updates and vunlenrabilities that have not been patched. Check the stats and you will see that Apple has many more vulnerabilities not being patched. And in the future when they have to buy AV software and worry about their apps breaking from OS updates many will be befuddled.

“Apple does a lot more than the iPhone, would be nice to read some news on that front, like why are Apple displays still $800 with 5 year old technology when you can buy others with better specs for 1/3 the price?”

Such is the brand satisfaction with Apple that folks will pay too much for their tech. Or, put another way, Apple products actually work. So one shouldn’t look at the performance numbers produced by various tech experts.

Folks have been judging tech for years on how well the numbers stack up. That is nerd waffle. It is like with the folks who claim to love the N95. Because it has good numbers. In theory. the thing doesn’t actually work, and if you trust it with your data you are crazy. But it has fine numbers.

Eric,

As a foreigner capable of speaking a language other than English, I find it strange that you say that mac os x does not support other languages. In fact Apple was one of the first to support multiple languages when the others (PC) only functioned in English.

Blah, blah, blah on and on about Apple.

Just as most folks don’t own a silly arse IPhone or IPod, even though hear the media and it certainly sounds like everyone along with their dogs do- I see 91.5% of computer sales were *not* from Apple. But, they sure do seem to garner most of the press. Once again- 91.5% of computer sales did *not* belong to Apple.

See like Apple news has been all good for some time and yet the stock has stayed pretty static during this period. Why?

I think Vista is helping Apple do so well. I had an Apple sales person tell me that Vista has been the best marketing tool for Apple.

I switched to MAC about a year ago and been much happier every since.

Began investing in Apple before then and stock gains more than pay for MAC equipment.

There is a big shift going on with lots of money to be made.

Apple does a lot more than the iPhone, would be nice to read some news on that front, like why are Apple displays still $800 with 5 year old technology when you can buy others with better specs for 1/3 the price?And where’s the updates to them?

Apple is doing great in the U.S., but outside the U.S. they are not making the cut as much as all the other players. They are falling behind in that category and maybe represent 2% of the global market for PCs with most of that coming from the U.S. It would take some major price cuts to cut into that market and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Plus they do not have their OS in many different languages if at all.

ex ped: 2% sounds low. The report from IDC yesterday showed Apple with 6% of of the global market for PC sales in the second calendar quarter.