Macintosh still a big part of Apple, Inc.

“No one would deny the Mac is in rude health, particularly when compared to the rest of the PC market. In its last quarter, Mac sales were up 36 per cent on the year-ago quarter – more than three times the industry growth rate, according to Apple. The company is making inroads into growing its market, with around half of new Mac purchase coming from customers new to the platform. Few would deny now that the so-called ‘halo effect’ of the iPod – where positive experiences with the digital music player lead to sales of other Apple kit – is bearing fruit,” Seb Janacek writes for Silicon.com.

“Apple the computer company can coexist quite happily with Apple the consumer electronics company. And with Apple the media company for that matter. With the iPod, iTunes and new products such as the iPhone and Apple TV, the company has indeed moved on to the next big thing,” Janacek writes.

Janacek writes, “It just so happens that the Mac has come along for the ride and that the PC wars perhaps aren’t quite as dead as they might have appeared. The ‘Get a Mac’ and ‘Switch’ campaigns prove the company is committed to growing its minority share of the market and recent sales figures seem to support that.”

“Ten years ago, when Jobs said the PC wars were over and advised Apple to move on to the next big thing, he may have been speaking truthfully or maybe with tongue firmly in cheek. If it’s the former then it proves that even so-called tech visionaries get it wrong sometimes. Then again, 10 years is a long time in technology,” Janacek writes.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s Mac sales accounted for 56% of revenue during its second quarter, with music-related products, including iPods and iTunes sales accounting for the other 44%.