“With all eyes fixed upon the expected iPhone 5 announcement next week, it’s too easy to overlook the extent of the challenge Apple’s other products are posing to Microsoft,” Bill Snyder reports for InfoWorld. “ot only are sales of Macs continuing to grow much faster than that of PCs (which we all knew), but a recent report out of Wall Street indicates Apple is making strong gains in business — Microsoft’s seemingly impregnable fortress — and the iPad is cannibalizing sales of PCs and even Macs in the education market.”
“A generation of new users (and their parents) are being exposed to the iPad and iOS, and unless Windows 8 and devices like the Surface strike them as compelling, they may never be willing Windows customers again,” Snyder reports. “Apple’s overall sales of laptops and desktops have grown faster than PC sales for about six years now — for 25 straight quarters, to be exact… During the April-to-June quarter, Mac shipments to businesses in the United States grew 56.6 percent, while overall PC sales slipped 8.8 percent, says Charlie Wolf, who follows Apple for Needham & Co. Meanwhile, Mac business shipments worldwide increased 22.1 percent, amid a 4.5 percent decline in overall business PC sales.”
Snyder reports, “It’s not just businesses and the vendors that serve them that are shifting to Apple. The shift to iPads in education was dramatic in the April-to-June quarter. Says Wolf: “We believe the inescapable conclusion is that the iPad is beginning to cannibalize a material portion of PC sales in this market.” Mac sales in business declined very slightly in that quarter to about 520,000 units, whereas overall PC sales declined from 1.90 million to 1.64 million units, Wolf says. In other words, much of the money formerly spent on Windows PCs has shifted to iPads, and the amount of money for Macs is stable.”
Much more in the full article here.
Related article:
Apple Macs continue to invade the enterprise – September 5, 2012
The universe is rebalancing the PC mistake. Everything is as it should be as the trend continues,
While not perfect, Microsoft made computing affordable and attainable for billions of users and that is just a fact.
To this day, Apple is still an expensive option unless you buy refurbished products which in itself speaks to the issues that Apple also has with their devices.
Bottom line is this. Sheep’s are abound in this world, but people can darn well use what they want when they want without having to defend their choices.
If you like Apple and can justify the added costs then great and you should not be mocked because of it and the same applies to someone who uses a $600.00 PC or a lower end Android device which is what they can afford.
Sounds like your focus is on upfront purchase price exclusively. Cost of Apple products were premium in the old days, certainly not today. You get what you pay for.
Did you forget about long haul Cost Of Ownership? Downtime, Viruses, et al?
Agree 1990s Microsoft strategy worked well for the clueless focused on purchase price alone. Reinforced daily by the autocratic IT fortress.
Present day Apple changed all that. Apple runs rings around IT, Parallels and on and on …
The important question now is how much Windows 8 and Surface did or did not copy Apple and how viable the platform will be in the future. That said, if they innovate forward it should serve them well.
Forgot to mention: When you buy a Mac today, you get two computers for the cost of one.
Factor that in the affordability equation.
Pat, I can somewhat agree to your post…. except that Apple is more expensive ONLY in the CHEAP computer area. Apple does not make CHEAP computers. They choose not to.
If you look at the new ultra computers, Apple prices are reasonable. If you look at reasonable desktops, Apple prices are very good. Just a thought there.
PS, my friend bought a CHEAP pc and is paying the price. The usb connector in the front fell apart just after the 1 year coverage. Now she is having all kinds of software issues and her disk from the vendor looks like it is shedding parts of the coating. Yea. cheap pcs are just the greatest.
$600.00 PC? Where the heck are you shopping because I’ll make sure not to go there!
Going prices for PC’s have been $300-$400 for some time now, unless I guess you feel you can justify the added cost.
You can buy a $300 to $400 PC. Low RAM, low ROM, 3 to 4 year old, slow, CPU, integrated, not separate, GPU, 3 glorious months of anti- virus protection and more plastic than you can shake a stick at.
In this situation, PC does mean Piece of Crap.
Ballmer was out walking the MS dog one morning when the Apple truck ran him over. By the time he got done discharged himself from hospital after a 5 year coma it was too late to stop the runaway truck from smoking him into the distance.
22% worldwide sounds a lot better than “stable” to me…
Simple ..Great products ,, Great service and best of all DEDICATED WORKERS to consumers…NOT $$$.
Microsoft grew into a behemoth where the bottom line is making profit increase.
Well guess what ,, With Tim Cook treating the his own workers ,, it wont be long before Apple falls.
Tim Cook you better wake up….
Microsoft started off and still is a shameless vendor of rip off of mediocre (just barely functional is enough mentality)
They have never had taste, ethics, or well engineered products. That, in now way relates to apple, now or ever.
Nice try though.
Steve Jobs said it best. “Microsofthas no taste……. And I mean that in a big way”
Does Ballmer still like his plan?
Can’t speak for him, but I like it. I like it a lot!
Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way…
Balmer thinks he is following, but Apple is pushing him “Out of the Way.”
Yes, he likes it a lot.
I don’t care what other people use.
Microsoft destroyed so many product categories in the day we can only imagine what a vibrant eco-system we would have today if it had no abused us so. MS Office has never ever been cheap. Windows has never been cheap!!! SIGH