“Apple isn’t going to roll out a revamped Mac desktop anytime soon, because you wouldn’t buy one anyway, analysts say,” Brian X. Chen reports for Wired.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, Brian, unlike you, we read your article. You have one “analyst” espousing that dubious claim. Singular. And he’s wrong.
Chen continues, “Tough economic times, a shrinking desktop market and strong notebook sales make the idea of a sexy, aluminum Mac Mini [sic] an unwise investment for Apple, said Trip Chowdhry, a Global Equities Research analyst. ‘In this environment where nobody is buying anything and you come out with a kick-ass product, you might get a lot of wows and woos, but that does not convert into sales,’ Chowdhry said. ‘So that’s a wasted effort.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple will sell well over 2 million Macs this quarter. Obviously, somebody’s buying something. The only “wasted effort” here is Trip’s, who we suspect was living up to his name when he formulated his “analysis.”
By the way, Trippy Dippy is the same “analyst” who said that “Apple is selling Cadillacs to people who can no longer afford them,” back in October 2008. However, Apple then went on to sell 2,524,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing nine percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold a record 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. ‘Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history—surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,’ said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the earning release. More info: Apple demolishes Street with best quarterly revenue and earnings in company history in fiscal Q109 – January 21, 2009.
Nice “analysis” there, genius. Surely your clients, if you have any, are quite pleased. We took issue with Trip’s “analysis” then, too. Our analysis at the time, of course, proved to be correct.
And, Brian, it’s “Mac mini,” not “Mac Mini.” We’d expect Wired to get it right by now, as it’s been on the market for over 4 years.
Chen continues, “Apple’s Mac desktop line is conspicuously overdue for a refresh. Typically, these computers receive at least an incremental upgrade (i.e., minor improvements to processor, memory, storage) every seven months. However, both the Mac Mini and Mac Pro haven’t received an update in well over a year, and the current iMac is 10 months old.”
“Richard Shim, an analyst at research firm IDC, said U.S. desktop sales shrank about 8 percent last year, dropping from 34.2 million desktop shipments in 2007 to 31.4 million units in 2008. And worldwide, PC shipments shrank about 6 percent, from 153.6 million units shipped in 2007 to 144.9 million in 2008, Shim said,” Chen reports. “On top of that, Apple’s MacBook sales are skyrocketing, growing 71 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, the company’s desktop sales declined 25 percent year-over-year, according to Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer.”
Chen reports, “Chowdhry estimates that 2010 would be a more reasonable year for Apple to release any form-factor upgrades for its desktop line, including the Mac Mini.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Desktop sales are shrinking because you can’t cart around a desktop like a MacBook. It’s been a trend for a long time as notebooks got more and more powerful and less expensive. And, if “Apple’s MacBook sales are skyrocketing, growing 71 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to a year ago,” then it stands to reason that Trip Chowderhead’s big “analysis” that “nobody is buying anything,” is pure ass.
We don’t know what motivating Chowdhry’s “analysis,” but it certainly isn’t to demonstrate logic.
