“As Microsoft continues to waste time and resources figuring out how to win a sideline game it has already lost–Internet media–its shareholders have bigger things to worry about. Namely, the future of the Windows and Office cash cows,” Henry Blodget writes for Silicon Alley Insider.
Blodget writes, “It has been so long since Microsoft had anything real to worry about in these businesses that it’s easy to take their perpetual domination for granted. Don’t.”
Blodget reports, “SAI’s Dan Frommer recently noted a startling statistic: In personal computer sales in the US in Q2, Apple outgrew HP and Dell by a wide margin, continuing to regain market share it lost in the late 80s and early 90s. More surprisingly, Apple outgrew HP–the world’s largest PC vendor–on a unit basis as well:”
• Apple (AAPL) shipped 1.4 million computers in the US during Q2, representing 8.5% market share and 38% year-over-year growth. Mac shipments grew 9 times faster than the overall U.S. PC market (4.2%) in Q2.
MacDailyNews Note: Not 9 times, 20 times. You have to first remove Apple’s numbers from the PC market to make a proper comparison. (No, the PC market does not get to use Apple’s Mac numbers to prop up their faltering numbers.) The U.S. market as a whole (without Mac) in Q208 grew from 14,810 to 15,094 or approximately, or a paltry 1.9%. Mac grew from 1,011 to 1,397 or 38.2%. In other words: in Q208, Mac growth in the U.S. was more than twenty times (20x) that of the rest of the U.S. PC market. Contact:
• Q2 U.S. Mac sales grew by 386,000 computers year-over-year, handily beating no. 2 HP, which sold just 222,000 more computers in Q2 2008 (4.17 million total) than it did during Q2 2007 (3.94 million). Dell outsold HP and maintained its top U.S. market share; it shipped 5.25 million PCs last quarter, up 557,000 units/11.9% year-over-year, and representing 32% of the U.S. market. Meanwhile, HP (HPQ) maintained its no. 1 position worldwide
Blodget reports, “Looked at differently, the Big Three sold 1,165,000 more computers in the US in Q2 than they did last year…and Apple sold a third of these additional units. It is safe to say that the majority of these units won’t be running Windows. It’s also probably safe to say that most won’t be running Excel, Word, or Outlook, either.”
“Apple still has small market share (8.5% US, much less globally), so Microsoft is not going to fold up the tent overnight,” Blodget writes. “But at the rate Apple is gaining share, it won’t be long before Microsoft begins to feel a real bite. It is this threat, combined with the increasing attacks on its Office franchise, that Microsoft and its shareholders should really be worrying about.”
More in the full article here.
