Mac Sales Boom as PCs Flatline
While U.S. sales PCs are expected to amount to 66 million units in 2006, sales growth has dropped to zero and significant growth is seen only outside the U.S., according to a report from IDC released Wednesday.
In direct contrast, Apple sold 1.32 million Macs in its fiscal Q3 2006, a 12 percent year-over-year growth, and it sold 1.61 million Macs in Q4 2006, a 30 percent year-over-year growth. Apple has claimed that Macintosh market share is rising, and this data confirms that claim.
However, the causes are not clear. Many businesses could be holding off on replacement systems in order to size up Vista. On the other hand, many other companies have said they won’t roll out Vista until many months of compatibility testing are completed in 2007.
I’m a happy Mac user and content seeing Mac sales on the up tick. I don’t envy those chomping at the bit to fire up Vista eye candy. I think the millions of lines of ‘new and improved’ Vista code will take years to mature, let alone all the new device drivers. It’s going to be a long and frustrating trip.
…John
