“Hewlett-Packard is still on top, and gaining. Dell is slipping. Apple is still a darling, with a pair of asterisks,” Rick Aristotle Munarriz writes for The Motley Fool.
“The first of Apple’s asterisks is that HP actually posted stronger year-over-year growth than Apple. This bodes well for HP heading into its upcoming quarterly report. Naturally, this doesn’t look good for Apple ahead of its report later this month, but just remember that Macs are no longer a material driver for the Cupertino titan. IPad and iPhone sales made up 72% of its holiday quarter revenue, with Macs accounting for a thin 14% slice of the revenue mix,” Munarriz writes. “The second asterisk is one that you won’t see from this table. We have to dig up Gartner’s data from January to show market share data for the fourth calendar quarter. Apple had a chunky 11.6% of the U.S. market during the period. It’s now down to 10.6%.”
Munarriz asks, “Apple’s present — and undeniably its near-term future — is more about iOS than Mac OS. Isn’t it better if Apple simply focuses on those platforms and nixes its Macs and MacBooks? …Should Tim Cook kill that Mac?”
“Are you insane?” Munarriz writes. “I was only testing you. Apple has better things to do than pry MacBooks from a fanboy’s cold, dead fingers. Letting the long tail for PCs play out makes far more sense than putting all of its eggs in the iOS basket.”
Read more about why Apple is not “wasting its time on Macs” in the full article here.
Mac is one of the multiple areas of growth for Apple. They would never kill off a growth sector of the company. Plus, Apple still has an ever-increasing halo effect to exploit.
Hewlett-Packard (Let us call them Box Maker A) takes Windows PC sales from Acer (Let us call them Box Maker B). So Box Maker A takes from B’s market share of Windows PC boxes. Apple takes from all the missed Windows PC sales and adds to it’s market sales while gutting all the PC Netbooks with their iPads (Which can’t be mentioned or calculated in).
“Worldwide PC shipments posted a 1.9% year-over-year gain.” What is the number WITHOUT Apple Macs? It is NEGATIVE now and has been NEGATIVE for several quarters now! These idiots can’t see a tsunami even when it is visible at the beach!
Well, that, and as Cook already noted, if Mac sales are being cannibalized at the expense of another Apple product (iPad), that’s a pretty good position to be in. Even with such possible cannibalization, the Mac share is still growing. It will be interesting to see if a refresh and/or redesign of the Macs helps bump the growth a bit further. I certainly hope so.
Excuse my French but, f*ck this guy for writing such blasphemy!
That’s what I was thinking until I read the last paragraph. He was asking a joke rhetorical question. Had me wondering though for a minute.
I didn’t read the entire article.. Until I read your comment.
Glad it was a joke. There is no way I’d go anywhere near a pc.. At home anyway.
… that was a long lead-in, up to ““Are you insane?” Munarriz writes. “I was only testing you.”
And it certainly sounded like the twaddle every second or third analyst is peddling. The real question to be asked is how solid is the Mac’s position, not how they compare to the leader. The fact that HP focuses on the Enterprise niche while Apple focuses on the Consumer niche means their competition is not direct, though they are selling similar products.
April 1 was almost 2 weeks ago. What’s this guy doing? Hit piece?
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like my Mac. All five of them.
Same here. 2x 27″ iMacs and 2 mac laptops. I now use one of my iMacs as a media server for my iPad and Apple TV.
MAcs are the only growing big PC company. As has been mentioned HP and Dell are struggling. Apple are not. Part of that growth might be down to the Halo effect of iOS devices.
Apple should actually buy MS and shut it down completely. This would completely change the PC landscape!
no need to waste the money. Ballmer will do it, assuming he remains CEO for as long as it takes
It won’t take much longer, now… How far away is the windows 8 release? 😉
The shutdown is scheduled to be just after the Windows aid release. Actually, the shutdown is considered the only aid Windows and its users need.
Hahaha 🙂 Seriously, though… Just watching videos of user reviews of windows 8… the look of confusion, their first time impressions… Sit back, relax, enjoy the show. The look on their faces when they can’t find the start menu is priceless. 🙂
What a stupid question and what a stupid headline.
Exactly. >=(
1) HP’s gains came at the expense of the other PC vendors.
2) Mac’s are an integral part of Apple’s eco-system with enormous room for continued growth.
Heck no they aren’t going to kill it off.
Did any of the other commenters actually read the final lines of this bit? He said ‘of course they shouldn’t. It would be stupid to put all of their eggs in the iOS basket’
It’s not that the writer says that they shouldn’t – it is the fact that he used a journalism trick to garner hit-whoreing. State something to raise emotions and gain attention on an other-wise benign article – is what this is!
Market share data. When has this been a driving factor for Apple?
Glad he was joking. I was going to say, does he know where iOS apps come from?
Motley Fool. Yeah, right. Never right. Always foolish. If you read them and act on their advice, don’t ask me for a loan.
Fool alright. Definitely belongs on that site.
I love it – HP “posts stronger growth” which mean they moved more boxes out the door. They’re still doing the el-cheapo count that the number of units sold is more important than the profit made on those units. I thought we were all about capitalism? Why isn’t it better to make higher profits?
Ultimately you can’t do everything on an iPad or iPhone. The Mac is a necessary part of the total picture.
To sum up: Nope.
This is the most stupid topic I’ve ever seen.
iOS and OS X are converging already, it won’t be too long before all your devices are running the same OS so it makes no sense to scrap the mac.
Its funny, but the setup reads exactly like the Zero Sum bullshit most analysts write. “If Apple can’t control the market for PCs they shouldn’t be in the market!”. Ignoring that what really matters “is Apple making money in this segment?”.
This article a nauseating read that left me annoyed and lacking any benefit. Motley is using the term “Apple” to generate hits. Think before you click…
(btw: below the article on the Motley they have some BS about Steve.. DON’T click that fucker of a link.. it’s just a LONG WINDED ad, with the Motley Fool at the end trying to take $300 from you to get insider investment info. from some dork.)
So many idiots on here are only capable of reading the headline before rushing to make a comment, thus looking even more stupid that the original writer they’re commenting on.
What’s the matter with you, can’t you read little letters or something?
When someone writes an article about Apple and their customers, why is the term “fanboy” almost always brought out? When articles are written about computers running the Microsoft OS, the term “fanboy” is seemingly never used.
No, just because “zombis” is a better fit.
i think its z-o-m-b-i-e-s
That’s what the shareholders would like. They don’t care about the products and their use… they only care making money with money.
Tim, be strong: don’t listen (too much) to these parasites!
I think the better question is: if it is worthwhile for apple to continue to make macs, then why is apple devoting so little resources to them?
Hardware updates come slowly, if ever. There have been no significant design updates. Nobody knows whether the Mac pro will continue to exist. Apple seems to a significant update to one software product a year, at best.
Still waiting for zfs in os x, or something that would offer zfs type services.
When will ios and os x ever be reforked together?
With iCloud, my Mac should be the hub of my apple devices with the cloud mirroring the portions I choose. Instead, some stuff is done willy nilly through itunes, some through iCloud, nothing is terribly obvious.
It seems like macs are just on hold, and have been ever since developers were pulled off of os x in the run up to the iPhone’s release.
10% in 90 % to go.
If you look at thinks from market potential Mac OS has much more potential profit as the margins are much better than iOS.
Can someone explain the math to me? The PC market (incl Macs) shrinks by 3.5% (so more like -4% excluding Macs), the Mac market grows by 3.8% … so how can the Mac market share shrink???
Seeing as Apple’s Mac CONTINUES to be the CHEAPEST personal computer (when you’re smart enough to consider more than just shelf price, kids!) as well as THE BEST IN QUALITY personal computer available, I am very pleased this article was a joke. Otherwise I would expect a mass lynching.
I see no reason to expect Mac sales to do anything but continue to grow each quarter. The only reason HP is making headway again is:
– HP dumped their moron CEO for someone sane. Let’s hope that lasts.
– The ongoing worldwide economic depression has recovered enough for Windows box slaves to consider buying new hardware again. Once the catchup is over, Mac will more than regain its 11% US marketshare and then some…