Oricchio’s theories:
1. The new Mac Book Pro [sic] also came out about the same time.
MacDailyNews Take: Correct (except for the product name).
2. Apple lowered the prices of their Macs (ding, ding, ding!)
MacDailyNews Take: They did?
3. Could it be that people thought they wanted an iPad, saw what it couldn’t do and just said, ‘What the hell, I’ll just buy a Mac’ instead? Could it be that as great as iPad’s sales were that a lot of people found it was a short enough walk to just spend the money and get an exponentially more powerful device?
MacDailyNews Take: Wrong. Sure some people might have gone iPad to Mac, but not enough to goose April Mac sales so dramatically. We’ll hazard a guess that, based on her explanation, Renee doesn’t have an iPad nor is it likely that she’s ever spend any time at all, certainly not more than 5 minutes, with an iPad. What’s more likely to have affected Mac sales is that people waited a bit on their Mac purchases to see what iPad could do before figuring out which Mac model would best complement their new iPads. We’re still working that one out ourselves.
4. A lot of people are upgrading their PC’s, after waiting three years for Windows 7. Perhaps, again, at that moment of truth when making the purchase that a significant number of people said, “What the hell, I’m buying a Mac after all.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hope springs eternal that computer buyers will finally wise up en masse.
Oricchio writes, “Bottomline [sic]: the Mac is doing well because it is a time-tested beloved product. We’re still slogging our way through this “jobless recovery.” People are starting to spend a little money again. But they are doing so much more cautiously and wisely. It makes sense to invest in a product you know and trust. I think that’s why Mac sales are up (and the price drop didn’t hurt, Cupertino!).”
MacDailyNews Take: Good enough “bottomline” theory, but what “price drop” is she talking about?