“Since Apple Computer disclosed last month it would start building its computers with Intel chips, the company’s hardware sales have apparently risen and will likely remain strong after the switch occurs, a report said Tuesday on the eve of Apple’s third-quarter earnings release,” Red Herring reports. “Some 12 percent of respondents surveyed between June 13 and June 20 said they had bought Apple laptops in the past 90 days, compared with just 6 percent of respondents to a similar survey in March. The latest ChangeWave Research report surveyed 1,809 senior technology and business executives. Interest in Apple desktops has also increased, according to the report, with 7 percent responding that they had purchased desktops in the past 90 days, versus 2 percent in March.”
“The survey revealed that 19 percent of respondents were more likely to purchase an Apple computer in the future after the Intel announcement, as opposed to 3 percent who said they were less likely to do so… ‘Their next quarterly earnings announcement ought to be quite favorable regarding PC sales,’ said ChangeWave founder Tobin Smith. ‘Once Intel Macs are available [in summer 2006], our survey shows consumer purchases will surge big time. The Intel partnership is clearly a transformational deal for Apple.’ But the time in between won’t be so rosy. The survey shows that 42 percent of respondents are delaying Apple computer purchases to wait for the Intel chip,” Red Herring reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s move to Intel was announced a little over a month ago, on June 6. So, this survey that covers the last 90 days is obviously showing movement due to something other than the pending Intel switch. From what we can glean from the article, people are more likely to purchase an Apple computer in the future after the Intel announcement, but not necessarily because of the Intel announcement. Why would Apple’s move to what arguably look like less-elegant Intel processors make senior technology and business executives more likely to buy Macs? Perhaps it’s Windows’ security woes, Windows’ stagnant OS, the unexciting prospect of Win XP SP3 (Longhorn), iPod’s halo effect affecting Apple’s mind share, Mac OS X Tiger, or some other reason(s) instead?
full article indicates that Dell also saw large gains and that overall reports of pc purchases were up — this makes it difficult to know whether apple’s numbers represent more than the general upswing in industry. we’ll know shortly.
Interesting article. All statistics and reports look good … but … DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER! … Mac sales will drop because 42% of respondents said they would be holding off on Mac purchases until after the intel switch.
Hmmm … 58% won’t hold off? That’s interesting. With the growth in sales continuing, even if the percentages do slip I wonder if the bottom line for Apple will continue to grow through the transition?
I wonder what Macworld Jan 06 will be like?
I’m delaying, but that’s only because I’m po’. By the time I finish grad school, the Intel chips will be out and I will be ready to give myself a gift: A dual core 8.9 Giga-schmutz tower. I can’t wait.
Kids playing with numbers is scary…..
And of those 42% who said they’d wait, 97% of those are people who sit in forums and proclaim they are waiting for the next big thing, but will truly never actually buy anything. They think using their PowerMac 7600’s is just fine for now.
Don’t wait. Just get it and start doing stuff with it.
MW day, as in not a day goes by when someone doesnt say they are waiting for the next thing that is coming out.
Hammer: “MW day, as in not a day goes by when someone doesnt say they are waiting for the next thing that is coming out.”
The next thing I’m waiting for is the money to pay for a new Mac. Dang!
i´m a waiter.
no, I don´t serve food.
(I am guessing that most new mac buyers are old mac owners…still waiting for Apple to settle down…first it was OSX…wait until it comes out….then wait more because Tiger is coming (that´s the real OSX)….now switching to Intel….wait some more…then Leopard is on the horizon??? wait. then the Intel macs will be slightly delayed….wait…)
Mac owners figure the next Mac computer is going to last them 5, 7, 10 years so they will wait until Apple finally settles on something.
Hey, MDN:
That’s quite a silly “take” (and I generally love your takes!).
Business execs and senior IT managers are obviously are going to prefer Macs on Intel over Macs on PPC because:
a) they hope Macintels will be able to run Windows-based apps on which many companies DEPEND (even if there are OTHER Mac apps that have similar functionality);
b) they will have increased confidence in the availability/stability of Mac chip supply.
Of these two, the first is clearly the most important.
Despite this comment, MDN is great!
RT,
It doesn’t account for the 2/3rds of the survey period that occurred before the Intel switch was announced. MDN’s take is pretty much spot on.
Sorry, for lack of recent posts, but the media interviews lately are killing me!
Anyone can make statistics up, 76% of people know this.
two reasons sally-
the day apple “settles” on anything is the day apple dies. it’s impossible to make the perfect os, but apple is getting there, and will only get closer. if tiger isn’t good enough for 99% of users, i’ll throw my powerbook off a building.
Statistics say: all Texans are tall, 37.576 % of Americans are tall, therefore 37.576% of Americans are Texans. The conclusions of this article are based on false assumptions, which explains why so many journalists always manage to get it wrong.
2005 Macs will be the last best Macs… Who wants OSX on PC?
Magic word is “bad”. Bad is Intel switch.
Frenchie wrote: “2005 Macs will be the last best Macs.”
Exactly. Sales are up because Mac users want/need PPC, not antiquated ISA over-clocked kludgy Intel.
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