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That is so sweet to an investors ears, and to those that want to see MS pay for the sins of the past.

Mar 18, 08 - 09:34 am Comment from: Lurker_PC

That's great news! Too bad the lift in AAPL today has nothing to do with this story.

Assuming this holds true for the quarter, Mac shipments should be good. However, at Apple's next earning reports, if Apple reports any decrease or flat sales of the iPod as in same quarter 07, there is going to be another "buying opportunity" of Apple's stock.

Peace.

What about the worldwide market share? Is it still a tiny 3%?

Good news but NOT to be confused with installed base. This is purely percentage of U.S. sales.

Wall Street market controllers need to stop preventing Apple's stock price from doubling.

i think all fears of ipods being flat yoy are now included in aapl's price. people will look at the iPhone numbers and overall revenue. if they are good (and the outlook not too conservative) than today semms a good buying opportunity

Mar 18, 08 - 09:52 am Comment from: critic

@lurker

If the market share numbers for computers are true, the iPod number is much less important this quarter, particularly since the estimates for iPod sales on the street are somewhat conservative and probably prices into APPL already. The wildcard, as usual, will be iPhone sales.

today seems ...

sorry for the typo

So far stock is up $3 but seeing how the trend has been going... good news makes stock drop like a sac of potatos. Maybe the trend will reverse and I will no longer be losing money

This is misleading info. Somebody is playing games with % or misinterpreting something.
Apple now has a 14% market share of computer sales?
From a 5% market share to 14% in one quarter? (Did total Windows PC sales drop by a huge amount to give Apple this large number?)
And 1/4 all PC revenue goes to Apple?
And yet desktop sales declined 5%?

Mar 18, 08 - 10:11 am Comment from: Connor MacBook

I think this is referring to consumer retail sales, i.e. not including direct sales to business and consumers by the likes of Dell (or Apple, for that matter).

@NUmber Cruncher

To answer your question all you have to do is say one word.....Vista

Mar 18, 08 - 10:21 am Comment from: Lurker_PC

Critic - you and I know that the iPod numbers are much less important due to greater computer sales. I think the Street will panic though if they perceive iPod sales to be sluggish. Expect to see headlines that the "Apple's Reign Is Over" and other such nonsense. Thus another good buying opportunity.

(Note: I am making an assumption that computer sales will be up overall world wide not just in the US.)

Peace.

Mar 18, 08 - 10:25 am Comment from: MikeK

The headline is VERY misleading..

Macs grabbed 14% of RETAIL market-share in Feb.

That does not count the large majority of enterprise PC sales from HP and Dell that are not purchased through retail channels.

And now, if Apple would align the prices with the $'s currency change, Macs would be groving real fast all over the world. This more then 25% overpricing compared to US prices is just a break for sales.
See: http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/swissfrstore/ and notice that actually you get 1.02$ for a Swiss Franc

Mar 18, 08 - 10:31 am Comment from: MikeK

MDN Quote:

"We know the subject we cover intimately and we can clearly see when certain pundits, analysts, and tech writers are trying to pull the wool over their readers' eyes."

Okay then, correct this headline to read "Macs grabbed 14% of RETAIL sales in Feb." Just like the article that you linked to clearly states.

Mar 18, 08 - 10:34 am Comment from: Zune Tang®

By this news it looks like the beginning of the end for Apple. Years of building overpriced, proprietary, Windows wannabe computers has finally caught up with them. These retail numbers clearly demonstrate that consumers are becoming aware of Microsoft's innovation, ease of use and digital hub strategy.

I believe this is the tipping point for Microsoft; Windows Vista and the Zune are primed to take off. Apple's FUD machine and misinformed lackey analysts won't be able to stop it. Buh-bye Apple.

Your potential. Our passion.¡

Mar 18, 08 - 10:37 am Comment from: MikeK

ZT,

Like Morrissey once said: "That Joke isn't Funny Anymore."

Mar 18, 08 - 10:40 am Comment from: DLMeyer

The comments on the "misleading" market share are both correct and incorrect. For one thing, it is the US market share. And this is the sales. Sales up 60% plus in a somewhat flat market can bring significant gains in share. Vista, and an economic downturn, is a factor. Note, too, that the MBA has found a niche - and it isn't a parasite! It has carved its market out of the ultra-portable niche rather than out of the laptop niche - stolen sales from PCs. AND, drawn people in to the Apple Stores to gawk at its thin-ness. Anyone else want to comment on how limited it is? Or how over-priced it is? Both are correct - no question - but neither is relevant, nor are any other comparisons to MB or MBP laptops.
Dave

"Years of building overpriced, proprietary, Windows wannabe computers has finally caught up with them."

Damn, Macs cost almost as much as Vista

Mar 18, 08 - 10:46 am Comment from: Predrag

to Number Cruncher:

The data is correct and isn't misleading if you read carefully. Apple's share of SALES in February was 14%; much higher than it was in Feb 2007. The data doesn't say anything about Apple's current market share in the personal computer markets (domestic or global). NPD didn't survey that anyway.

Apple's market share should have inched past the 5% mark in the US (and past 3% globally) last year. I believe it is somewhere around 8% in the US today. We'll have to wait for a different survey for that data.

Meanwhile, it is good news (and was expected by many close observers) that Apple's sales are continuing to outpace others. Very soon, Apple will be selling the largest share of personal computers in the US (ahead of the likes of Dell, HP, etc.).

The local Office Depot has a Mac software section...that is how I know Mac is spreading again.

Just my $0.02

Mar 18, 08 - 10:59 am Comment from: Zune Tang®

@ MikeK

Was it It's too close to home and too near the bone?

Who's Morrissey?

Your potential. Our passion.™

Mar 18, 08 - 11:06 am Comment from: rahrens

Actually, I think that while MDN's headline is somewhat misleading, the fact that the article referred to retail sales is significant.

Most articles talk about overall market share, as MDN's headline alludes to.

But as we all know, it is the Mac's performance in specific markets that are the most significant. It is well known that Apple doesn't really try to compete in the corporate computer market, but that they have garnered 14% of the retail market is big news.

Regardless of the numbers of installed base, this means that 14% of all consumers that went to buy a computer in the month detailed bought Macs. It is wholly possible to double or even triple this number, based upon what consumers want, in just the short space of a month. Installed base, tho, takes longer to affect.

Nice to see!

Mar 18, 08 - 11:07 am Comment from: The Other Steve

@Zune Tang®

This place wouldn't be the same without you. I look forward to your post as much as the MDN take.

Right, this survey only covers retail sales. It does not include online sales, or sales to enterprises. During my final months at my old government office, I spent most of my time on system upgrades, rolling out new HP Compaq notebooks and desktops. None of those are counted in this survey. But, as MDN likes to point out, the Apple Mac trend lines are all positive.

Though the real tipping point is still a year or so away, I think the psychological barrier, which prevented so many from even considering the Mac, has been broken.

This is great news to this long time Apple investor.

Take that, you Windows yobs!

"The Mac maker also saw robust demand for its desktop systems, which grew 55 percent on a 68 percent increase in revenues, compared to the overall retail segment which saw unit sales decline 5 percent"

This is perhaps why we do not see a headless Mac other than the Mac Pros.

Mar 18, 08 - 11:21 am Comment from: Tyler

@ The Other Steve

I agree. Usually once I read an article I scroll through the comments just to see if Zune Tang posted. I enjoy his witticisms, they are unlike any others on this site.

Mar 18, 08 - 11:41 am Comment from: flappo

you're easily pleased

Mar 18, 08 - 12:02 pm Comment from: M. T. MacPhee

@MikeK

What you say is correct, but isn't there another computer company that has a rather large and successful on-line store? Where do those sales show up?

Mar 18, 08 - 12:11 pm Comment from: Roberto

Thanks Ray (Office Depot tip), I'll check out my local OD for Mac software ASAP.

Mar 18, 08 - 12:11 pm Comment from: MikeK

@M. T. MacPhee,

I don't know, and it really doesn't matter.

My point is that MDN is always claiming that they hate misleading information and that they always print the facts, yet, they drop one very important word ("retail,") from the original headline that changes the meaning entirely.

You can bet you're wife and kids that if this article pertained to something else like say, Zune retail sales, that MDN would be ripping the author a new one, posting emails and contact info and encouraging readers to contact the editors for this glaring oversight and misleading headline.

Sensationalism works two ways.

Yeah, Zune Tang, MicroSoft is "taking off" Right off the cliff.

Mar 18, 08 - 01:05 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Yes, we KNOW it's retail sales in the US. It doesn't count internet sales. It doesn't count Foreign sales. It doesn't count business sales, etc. THAT's why the percentage change is more informative. That is up 60% year over year. While we have been conditioned for growth of 30 to 45% Mac growth this past year, seeing 60% growth is significantly larger. And, this growth extends both to notebooks and desktops. This is what's important.

Mar 18, 08 - 01:18 pm Comment from: MikeK

@Anonymous,

The posts early in this thread show that people were clearly confused by the MDN headline which read:

"Apple Mac grabs 14% US market-share in Feb"

MDN has since corrected the headline to include the all-important word "retail."

Predrag ,

yes I agree. But the really good news from these figures is that the Mac market-share in the U.S. could now be 10% or over.
That really makes me feel good (although I'm a European).
10% seemed such a long way off just a year ago and now it's a distinct possibility.

Mar 18, 08 - 01:31 pm Comment from: MikeK

"But the really good news from these figures is that the Mac market-share in the U.S. could now be 10% or over."
----------------------

Not necessarily, it all depends on how Apple's non-retail sales have been. There is no doubt that Apple has a growing retail presence now that Best Buy is carrying Macs and Apple stores continue to open across the US..

These figures could just mean that retail sales are taking the place of non-retail online purchases.. By no means am I saying this is bad news, but without the rest of the sales data, these numbers don't tell us much about overall market-share for Macs.

MikeK ,

yes indeed, and that is why I used words like 'could' and 'possibility'.

But this news, added to all the other evidence - anecdotal, statistical and 'visual' (I'm not the only one who is seing more and more Macs in the cafés and universities etc.) suggests that the switching-process is accelerating - that it has reached what some call a tipping-point.
One example: In February I visited a good friend in Luleå a small town in north Sweden, not far from the arctic circle (I live in Berlin). Waiting for the flight back in the very small airport there, I saw three Swedish businessmen sitting at a table. Two had MacBook Pros (which looked new) in front of them and the third a MacBook Air, which had only just come out in Sweden. That would have been an unusual sight a year ago - even in Stockholm (where I change flights) or Berlin!
There's been a noticeable steady increase in sales of Macs in the last few years but I believe that has changed - the increase is no longer 'steady'.

Mar 18, 08 - 02:31 pm Comment from: LordRobin

14% retail market share is very important, because those are the computers that are actually used for things beyond glorified word-processors/dumb terminals. It's a sign that software and service purveyors can not afford to avoid the Mac.

Oh, and LOL at Zune Tang's obvious sock puppets. "I agree. Usually once I read an article I scroll through the comments just to see if Zune Tang posted." Riiiiiight. ZT posts the same damn thing practically every time. He hasn't been funny in over a year, if he ever was. What a loser.

------RM

Mike K funny how important MDN leaving out the word 'ratail' is to you while you yourself seem to be totally unable to understand the importance of the word 'could' in Gavron's post. Pot, kettle and black come to mind, not for the first time.

Mar 18, 08 - 04:12 pm Comment from: MikeK

@Spyinthesky,

Firstly, it wasn't important that MDN leave out "ratail," it was important that MDN include the word "retail."

Secondly, I understood the word "could" in Gavron's post when I originally commented.. That's why when I replied to his comment, I used the words "Not necessarily," "depends," and , "by no means am I saying this is bad news, it's just incomplete data."

So, No... Pot, kettle and black have no relevance to any of my posts.

Mar 18, 08 - 04:48 pm Comment from: twilightmoon

LordRobin: "ZT posts the same damn thing practically every time. He hasn't been funny in over a year, if he ever was. What a loser."

I'll admit he's very repetitive, and hardly always funny, but there certainly are occasional gems from ZT. If you don't like the posts you can always skip over them.

I'm with mikek on this one. Especially the part about Apple's growing retail presence, it had better translate into more retail sales or else they are doing something wrong. But just because retail sales are up 60% over last year doesn't mean sales in general are up 60% over last year.

It's good news, but you can't read into it too much and assume marketshare and total sales based on this report. Like he said it's incomplete data.

ZT? I don't know guys, I like a good laugh, but really, it's just not funny. It's old, the same joke day after day, thread after thread..

There's something to be said about knowing when to quit.

But I suppose if some people consider his posts humorous then more power to him.

Mar 18, 08 - 06:15 pm Comment from: Ampar

"If you don't like the posts you can always skip over them."

I amazed at how many people are obviously incapable of that simple action. It makes you wonder if OCD is pandemic.

Mar 18, 08 - 08:24 pm Comment from: Bluefin

I only read the good posts.
I skip over the bad ones...

Mar 18, 08 - 09:23 pm Comment from: Road Warrior

Time for some translations:

Article: "Growth in Apple's personal computer business continued to outpace the industry average last month, "

Zune Thang: "By this news it looks like the beginning of the end for Apple. Years of building overpriced, proprietary, Windows wannabe computers has finally caught up with them. These retail numbers clearly demonstrate that consumers are becoming aware of Microsoft's innovation, ease of use and digital hub strategy."

Interpretation: It is indeed the beginning of the end of being a miniscule player in the computer market. Apple is no longer a Windows wannabe computer but a computer that truly runs Windows, that is if you want to inflict such pain upon yourself.

The increase of numbers in Apple's favour does truly show that consumers are becoming aware of the level of MS innovation, ease of use etc. truly sucks and should be avoided at all cost.

Zune Thang: "I believe this is the tipping point for Microsoft; Windows Vista and the Zune are primed to take off. Apple's FUD machine and misinformed lackey analysts won't be able to stop it. "

Interpretation: Right down the toilet, and you can bet that Apple's FUD (Freedom, Usability, Desire) certainly won't do anything to stop that flush.

And for the rest of us who have figured out how to use a search engine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEmsjyUrslk

that anyone comes to MDN to read the truth, get a grip !!!
MDN is the most Apple centric fanboy site in the known universe.

I like it that way.

Mar 19, 08 - 04:35 pm Comment from: FatMac

Whoah, Nellie!!

Type "snap" into the Safari search bar and let the good times roll.