According to notes issued this morning from Piper Jaffray, Apple’s Black Friday went well. Apple’s number of items and discount (8% average) was consistent with previous Black Friday sales. Mac sales averaged 13 per hour, up from 2 per hour from Piper’s study earlier in November. The firm did not provide year-over-year comparisons for black Friday. iPhone sales averaged 3.4 per hour, up from 1.3 per hour from their early November study.
In short: Apple’s Mac sales were better than Piper expected on Black Friday.
Goldman Sachs’ note stated that crowds remain the norm in the Apple Stores that they visited, with some having lines outside the stores even after the initial early-morning rush.
The promotions that Apple ran on Friday were relatively modest and mostly consistent with last year $50 to $100 off of iMacs and MacBooks, $10 to $20 off of the iPod nano and iPod touch, and a wide range of specials on accessories. Customer interest seemed particularly heavy in Macs and we saw several customers buying Mac bundles that included AppleCare support contracts and third-party software.
Goldman also noted that sales of iPod and Mac accessories (including Airport Extreme and Time Capsule) also seemed strong which is possibly a reflection of more modest consumer spending this year.
Analysts at Thomas Weisel Partners talked with representatives from 47 Apple Retail stores (including international locations), 35 Best Buy stores and 2 Wal-Mart stores and came away from the checks incrementally more confident in their long-term positive thesis on AAPL shares and December quarter estimates.
Weisel analysts’ checks suggest that AAPL continues to gain market share in personal computers, smartphones and MP3 players despite the challenge of higher price points in difficult economic times. Their checks indicated that Apple retail same store sales are flat to slightly up year-over-year, better than the flat to down YOY same store sales for major electronics retailer Best Buy. The firm’s checks also suggest that iPod demand (historically 40-50% of AAPL Dec Q revenue) has been strong.
According to Weisel analysts, Apple’s Mac sales are trending in-line with their expectations: 2.4 million Macs in the Christmas quarter.
Of the 47 AAPL representatives Weisel analystse spoke with, 66% indicated that the stores were equally busy or busier than last year for the Black Friday weekend, the rest of the reps the firm spoke with did not provide commentary with respect to y/y trends. In contrast, 0% of the 35 BBY reps they spoke with indicated that the stores were equally busy or busier than last year and 34% of the BBY reps commented that the stores were less busy than last year. Weisel believes this indicates that AAPL continues to gain market share acrosall product categories served (PCs, smartphones and MP3 players).
In addition, iPod sales appear robust with positive mix and margin affects from strong sales of the nano and touch. Based on theirr recent checks, Weisel analysts believe sources of upside to our iPod revenue estimate of $2.3 billion include both favorable unit and ASP trends.
Macs appear to be tracking to expectations with $1299 MacBook selling well to new Mac users. Our in-store visits in SF, NYC and Toronto as well as calls to AAPL and BBY retail stores leave Weisle analysts feeling comfortable with their current iPhone and Mac unit estimates for the Dec Q (i.e. 2.4mn macs and 6.9mn iPhones). Weisel noted that the Mac tables were busy and that lineups appeared seasonally long.
Wesiel says that the new MacBooks (starting at $1299) are being well received by new Mac users suggesting to us that Apple continues to gain market share in the higher price point notebook. Additionally, the lower price point ($999) white MacBook also appears to be attracting a lot of attention among new Mac users. Specifically, 47% of the representatives we spoke with suggested that the $999 MacBook was a best seller, while 36% of the representatives we spoke with suggested that the $1299 MacBook was a best seller.
Bottom line: Apple appears to have started out the holiday shopping season very well indeed.
all-in-all
not bad, but no real fire sale.
You don’t need a big sale if your product is desired by the public.
(one reason american auto industry has so many sales)
“Of the 47 AAPL representatives Weisel analystse spoke with, 66% indicated that the stores were equally busy or busier than last year for the Black Friday weekend..”
wow great reporting and wonderful research done there
It was a lame black friday sale, Apple. Lame.
It wasn’t lame last year when it was virtually the same sale.
Grow up.
Apple is meeting all expectations while all around it is crumbling and that is “lame”????
JMO and those disappointed analysts are all just plain stupid.
As soon as the 20″ iMac gets kicked up to the better NVIDIA with 512 video RAM like the 24″ and the MacBook Pro, I’m ready to buy one for home. For now, my G5 iMac is still adequate and I’ll wait.
I hate that Apple always has lesser guts in the smaller screen iMacs. Sometimes it’s not a price thing it’s a space thing. I need a 20″ and I want it with the latest fastest stuff in it for longevity. : P
Why is it an “otherwise lackluster black friday” when it was an overall gain of 3% sales over last year? In the economy right now, a 3% gain over better times seems to be a fairly impressive black friday.
If you want really good colours then do not get a 20 inch iMac. I used one a couple of days last week and despite calibration with Gretag Eye-One it was not to my liking. The 24 inch is much better and the 3.06 with GLOSSY screen isthe pick of the bunch.
But they ALL have FIREWIRE so are not CRIPPLED like MacBooks.
So whats new????????
THe 3% increase compared to last year is meaningless, since it was achieved using drastic discounts. In other words, people spent just a little more money than last year (pretty much the same, or even slightly less, when adjusted for inflation) and got a lot more stuff for it. In the end, rather than this being a Black Friday, it may end up being not so black after all, if those sale prices had to cut deep into the profits. It is quite likely that many of the items on sale ended up being loss leaders. Not a great way to make a Black Friday profit.
We won’t know until the season is over (i.e. on 26 Dec), but deep discounts, combined with the shorter season (compared to the last year, when Black Friday happened earlier in November), might likely end up the final straw for the survival of some of the big retailers. Circuit City is already there; who will be next?
Wow 13 per hour at all the stores and on line, let’s see that makes about 114,000 per year if that means 24/7 365 days a year. Isn’t somebody’s math off – oh yea that is piper jafrey – aren’t they a wall street firm – their math has been a little suspect the last few years
The big o:
You clearly misunderstood; average seems to be per store (brick & mortar one), so multiply that number by the number of hours the average store is open in a day, then again with the total number of stores in the US.
I believe his numbers were not meant to be used to exrapolate the total sales volume for Apple in the US (that would be ridiculous on such a small, arbitrary sample). It was meant to be used for comparison (month-to-month, or same day last year). For those pursposes, the numbers are quite valid and useful.
I heard a different report that overall sales were up 7% over last year.
@the big mistake, Piper is based nowhere near Wall St. They are based in Minneapolis.
Oh, btw, your math is totally wrong.
@MDN
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What is acrosall?
“continues to gain market share acrosall product”
Predrag
Thank you for your explanation but you even say “average seems…” And that is my point the data was not clear as presented. More info was needed to make any comparisons. I am a big mac and apple fan since 1979 and have helped many see the wisdom of going mac so nothing makes me happier than to see their success. Cheers. Oh and Ken c all I did was take 13 per hour times 24 hours per day times 365 days per year like I said I did and as was implied in the above report and I believe that equals 113,880 which is “about” 114,000. By the way Cheers. I am not trying to get into an argument – only saying the first story didin’t tell the whole picture – Cheers again