“Apple’s Mac business, now 30 years old, just had its best three months in history,” Dan Frommer reports for Quartz. “Apple shipped 5.5 million Macs last quarter, up almost 1 million units—a 20% increase—from the year before.”
“How did it happen? On Apple’s earnings call yesterday, CFO Luca Maestri noted strong back-to-school sales, and growth—46% year-over-year—in emerging markets,” Frommer reports. “‘We now gained market share for 33 of the last 34 quarters,’ he said. Later, CEO Tim Cook noted that Mac sales were up 54% in China. ‘It was just an absolutely blow-away quarter,’ he said. ‘It will result in our highest market share since 1995.'”
“Apple’s recent efforts to make Macs work better with iPhones and iPads should help [sales] some, too—namely its new ‘Continuity’ and ‘Handoff’ features that make it easier to switch between Macs and iOS devices for messaging, e-mail, web browsing, and even phone calls,” Frommer reports. “Apple’s unique ability to tightly integrate hardware and software—both in individual devices and across its product line—remains one of its biggest strengths versus rivals like HP, Samsung, and Google.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Something Steve Jobs may not have considered: What if “milking the Mac for all its worth” ends up yielding an endless supply of milk because “the next great thing” turns out to be the Macintosh?
Related articles:
Wall Street Journal reviews Apple iMac Retina 5K: ‘Oh boy, will you want one’ – October 21, 2014
Apple’s Mac a surprise hit in Q414 results; market share now highest since 1995 – October 21, 2014
NPD: Apple Mac grabs 26.8% U.S. consumer market share – September 24, 2014
Apple Macintosh continues to dominate in personal computer customer satisfaction – September 23, 2014
Milestone: Apple computers outsold Windows PCs in Q4 2013 – February 12, 2014
Apple Macintosh continues to dominate in personal computer customer satisfaction – September 17, 2013
Microsoft’s blunders certainly have helped Apple considerably too.
You left out beleaguered. Beleaguered Microsoft’s blunders. Never truer than now.
Yes, the Ballmer T. Clown misfires gift that keeps on giving. They could not fall all over themselves more making Apple look great.
You could just write BM for short.
I like that idea! I like it a lot!
Anyone successfully using Handoff? I’ve been unable to get it to work with my 13″ 2012 MacBook Pro and iPhone 6. I believe I’ve RTFM but I see other folks are having similar issues. I sorta got it to work with the iPhone an d my iPad but just not the MacBook.
To the article’s point, anyone here who’s been a long-time reader, can tell you the ascendancy of Apple has taken a long time but these successes are no surprise. The MacBook line is just killer and a pure joy to use.
I was having problem initially, then I just rebooted my Mac and everything worked. It’s pretty bitchin’ when all is working.
So, in short, OS X is getting more like Windows in that a reboot is required all the time. But unlike MS, Apple doesn’t bother to tell users to do so. Not a good trend IMHO.
Stretch much?
No rational person has EVER claimed that Apple gear is perfect. However, most of the time, “it just works”.
Every so often, usually after a few weeks or so, I may notice a glitch, or something not quite right on my Mac.
A simple reboot generally sets things right for another few weeks. Sheesh!
Aside from new software installation, I can count on one hand the number of times I had to reboot Snow Leopard.
Why should Mac OS X need random reboots today?
“ascendancy of Apple has taken a long time but these successes are no surprise”
Is this what Apple meant by “It’s Been Way Too Long”?
I thought the “way too long” would mean an Apple TV update but the Mac Mini now makes sense. The company’s success is just a result of designing and making good products that more people get hooked on every year . And if you’re a shareholder your patience has been rewarded 🙂
And my 2013 Mac Pro renders like butter…
It was certainly the news that pleased me most. Now I’d like to see some TV commercials promoting OS X and it’s apps.
People are tired of going through endless repairs and de-lousing, de-virusing of their PCs and have switched to Mac.
I have personally fixed several clients’ problems by migrating them from PC to Mac – it saves me hours of stupid PC questions and now that they are on Mac they have stopped asking me computer questions and we just focus on building business.
You hit the nail on the head for choosy people (business or consumer) who value their time (and money spent on support – true TCO) more than saving a few bucks on a hapless inelegant POS Winblows platform.
Just got the word: our gold 64 iPad Air is arriving on Friday!
The Macintosh has been and continues to be the only computer people WANT to use. As the traditional non-Mac desktop market shrinks to oblivion, the Mac will continue an unstoppable rise. Ultimately the MAC will be the last desktop and laptop computer selling in significant quantity.
Great, nika, reckon I’m being a bit picked, but it’s Mac, not MAC. Really a big difference.
In all fairness (s)he (Can’t tell from the name) did say Mac twice; the last mention was likely ALL CAPS for emphasis.
Steve Jobs didn’t mean the Mac as it is today when he made that comment. He was talking about the Mac as it was in the MacOS 8 days, before OSX and everything it enabled. Apple in the late 90s milked the classic Mac with the great little G3 iMacs and early G4 PowerBooks, then re-invested the profits into a completely new architecture, one that everything since has sprung from.
Genius.
I still get thrilled working on my iMac. All day, every day, pure joy.
Yep. Me too. Very thankful. Makes me think that there might yet be hope for humanity, for celebrating artistry and excellence, in spite of liberalism’s race to the bottom.
The Mac is back? Excuse me. The Mac never left.
I can think of a dozen or so (then big) PC companies that can’t make the same claim.
Got ahead of me, Thelonious. Couldn’t agree more. The Mac only “left” in the minds of some short-sighted, doom and gloom, so-called pundits and analysts — people who cannot see past the end of the week and have ZERO appreciation of integrated, long term, strategic business development.
Not with that new Mac mini. Apple cheapened it and the new top line Mac mini is outperformed by the previous model on benchmarks and not by a small margin. No longer can you plug in memory and lots of other bullshit.
Take a look at the comments on the Ars take on the iFixit teardown- it is not a happy fanboy comment collection.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/10/ifixits-2014-mac-mini-teardown-shows-a-sealed-less-upgradeable-redesign/
Apple seems to think all we need is lowest common denominator stuff that cannot be fixed or upgraded for premium prices. They have shat upon the Mac mini and turned a nice compact computer into a Wal-Mart center aisle special worthy of Dell.
They offed up the Mac Pro, messed up the Mac mini and have skyrocketed the iMac- what is supposed to be a consumer grade computer- into Pro territory on price in it’s glue-fest of a sealed case complete with vampire video.
I don’t get what you’re saying.
You cannot upgrade the device easily like previous versions and they have gone over to lower performing low power chipsets that have lowered performance. No i7 Version is available. No discrete graphics upgrade is offered.
Your money buys a less capable and less upgradeable computer. The price of the previous version Mac mini has shot up online in reaction to the craptastic downgrade.
All true. Apple is losing its way. And it scares the hell out of me because there is no good alternative.
I also don’t like the trend towards making computers with no user upgradable components.
I thought I didn’t like that trend either.. Then I looked back some 18 years at all the Macs I had purchased since then (let me see if I can count them: PowerMac 8200; PM8500; G3266; G4 Cube; iMac G5 (20″); White iMac CoreDuo (20″); Aluminium iMac Core2 duo (20″); Alu iMac i3 (21.5″); Alu iMac i5 (21.5″). That is 10 Macs. The last four (going back to white Core Duo iMac) are still in service. Only ONCE did I ever bother upgrading something (added memory to the white Intel iMac).
The 21.5″ iMac of today won’t allow you to upgrade memory anymore. While it comes with plenty, if you hold onto it for five years or more, you’ll perhaps begin to feel the memory pinch with OS 10.15 Palm Springs (or whatever other California feature Apple chooses to call it). Of course, you can always take it to the Apple store and have the geniuses install your memory for you. In fact, if you are a long-time Apple user with more than just one device (aren’t we all?), they’ll let you bring RAM chips form outside. Bottom line, while the device might not be “user upgradeable”, if you ever feel compelled to upgrade anything, it will likely be memory, and Apple will likely do it for you for free, so the only hassle is taking your iMac to an Apple store.
On the 27″ iMacs you can still do it yourself.
I’ve also been a Mac user for a long time (my first was a PowerMac 6100), but, unlike you, I’ve done many upgrades to my Macs.
My current Mac Pro 5,1 has had RAM upgraded to 48GB, SATA 3 card installed with an SSD connected, graphics card upgraded to GTX 680, USB 3 card installed, and countless changes to hard drive configurations.
My MacBook 5,1 has had it’s RAM upgraded to an officially unsupported 8GB and gone through several hard drive changes before settling on its current SSD. Heck, I even remember upgrading the CPU on my PowerBook Pismo to a G4.
A system where nothing is user upgradable will force me to try and predict what I will need down the line. It also forces me to pay current prices on things like RAM and drives. Given the ability to upgrade, I can upgrade RAM and drive capacities as prices drop and needs dictate.
On MDN’sTake:
I don’t believe the Mac represents an endless supply of milk. It is possible that the Mac has exhibited more strength and longevity than SJ anticipated. But I believe that SJ was looking farther into the future to a point of miniaturization and convergence in which the distinction between a desktop, laptop, mobile device, and wearable disappears. The computational capability becomes wearable and/or embedded, and the display and I/O methods vary according to the situation – keyboard/mouse, touch, voice, gesture…eventual direct mental linkage? At any rate, SJ was a visionary and I think that the Take is too simplistic and underestimates SJ’s ability to look into the future. It may seem like a long time, but it has only been a few years. SJ would not have been surprised by Apple’s status in 2014.
The average Windows computer lasts around 3-5 years. In 2010 Apple sold around 39 million iPhones and in 2011 they sold around 72 million iPhones. My WAG is at least half of these iPhone customers are new to the Apple ecosystem. When these “new to the Apple ecosystem” customers need a new computer they will be investing in a Mac or iPad. Going forward, one of the reasons Mac adoption will significantly accelerate is because the number of iPhones sold over the last few years has grown exponentially (Apple is on track to sell 70 million plus iPhones in the current December quarter.) and these clients will choose Apple computers.
Here’s hoping that for the holidays we see new commercials touting Continuity/Handoff and showcasing both the iOS devices and the Mac.
Great sales apple but you WOULD SELL MORE if you would MARKET them !
where the great Mac ad campaigns?
seems like the Mac Marketing and Advertising team went for coffee and doughnuts after warping up the last Mac PC guy ad in 2009 (2009!) and never came back.
I would say, the advertising priorities are elswhere, which is quite logical. The share of the Macintosh in Apple’s monetary pie has become rather small, around 15% of the total revenue. Couple that with its somewhat lower margins than on their money-printing machine (the iPhone) and it is clear that Apple doesn’t feel the need to advertise Mac as much, when iPhone will deliver collateral advertising (the venerable “halo” effect).
Let us not forget, while not as much as in earlier years, Apple is still quite present in Hollywood with product placement, where the glowing white apple will inevitably shine from the good guy’s laptops…
15% isn’t small and it’s chicken and egg question. . could it a heck a lot more than 15% if they marketed?
The Mac business is nearly as profitable as the Pc business of Dell, acer, Lenovo, Sony, Samsung, HP COMBINED. (Macs take 40% of worldwide PC profits, but if they Marketed they can TAKE MORE).
If you have great products marketing isn’t an expense but a sales multiplier
when the earnings fell short of analysts estimates a few years ago by a SMALL amount the stock tanked 40% and has taken 2 years to recover. If they had sold a few more macs maybe hit the targets perhaps the stock would be like a lot higher now?
“I would say, the advertising priorities are elswhere, which is quite logical”
why is that ‘logical’?
Apple has more than enough resources to do BOTH .. advertise Macs AND iPhones etc. Note Mac market share is LOWER than iPhones and you have a major rival Msft. floundering with Win 8, if not attack now when? lIke I said the Mac business is larger than some big companies …
(Apple has 170b or so in the bank . Apple had enough resources to advertise Macs in the past when they selling less, they could run extensive campaigns like Mac Pc guy. Like I said when you have great products Advertising is not an expense but will make more money. )
Look I’m not saying spend crazy billions like samsung but spend something . Samsung Electronics spent 13 b plus on ads last year Apple spent 1 billion plus . Msft spent near half Apple’s entire budget on NFL alone. Add Lenovo, Google, Acer, dell and apple is outspent by a huge amount).
The only Mac ads I can remember in the last few years were aborted ‘Genius’, short lived ‘stickies’ etc. No sustained ad campaign at all. We Apple fans know about Yosemite etc but we have DISTORTED vision about Apple knowledge, many people do NOT know about the advantages of OSX etc vs Windows, Many people do not know a mac mini EXISTS (“I don;t want to switch to Mac because I’ll lose my monitors as I’ll have to get an iMac” — I hear over and over again).
Another example: Last Christmas I went to my local Walmart to get Thunderbolt cables for my new Macbook Pro. Their ‘Apple expert ‘ didn’t know what Thunderbolt WAS and he was standing next to Thunderbolt Macs . They didn’t carry Thunderbolt cables, no mini D cables either or adaptors so no way to hook up a macbook they sold to an external monitor…. Without advertising third party Big Retail sales staff is useless in selling Macs. They are clueless and WILL NEVER say Macs are better than Win PCs as they carry a lot more Win PCs, so it’s up to Apple to put out marketing. BTW training retail partners is also a marketing job.
There have been two things I keep harping about: Apple PR and Mac Marketing . Apple PR has improved a lot (see bend gate control), now it has to work on Mac marketing. NOTE: both Apple PR chief and head of USA marketing chief were removed in the same week several months ago (so apple seems to be aware of problems ) …
Lack of Mac advertising is a lapse like a lack of a big phone…
I think Apple really needs to market the Continuity and Handoff features. These are some of the ecosystem’s killer features which will drive sales of all their products. The question is how should they market these features? Many competitor television ads tout this feature or that feature, but are forgettable and apparently not selling many Windows machines.
During late summer Apple ran this Mac ad quite often:
It looks like their target market was students and young adults. This ad ran in the “back-to-school” time frame and was very effective.
Now that Yosemite has just been released it will be very interesting to see how they market Mac products going forward. Will they stick with the visceral, obscure, hip advertising or will they take an intellectual approach?
yes , I mentioned this ad : ” in the last few years were aborted ‘Genius’, short lived ‘stickies’ etc.”
but in my area I never saw it on TV, but I’ve seen many Apple U2 ads.
MAYBE that Stickers Ad HELPED APPLE SELL THAT 25% increase? so I could be right? more ads = more sales?
still there hasn’t been a sustained campaign like Mac PC guy.
I even have more to say on this:
— if Apple shouldn’t advertise Macs as it’s “small” in apple’s pie then why SPEND MILLIONS and MILLIONS ON R&D, and create stuff like the “thinest iMac with special bonding process etc” ? Obviously to ENGINEERING and DESIGN mac isn’t ‘small’. It’s just small to advertising…
Apple is spending the effort MAKING the products but just not advertising them. Shoot I HAVE SEEN MORE Apple BONO U2 ADS ON TV in one week THAN MAC ADS FOR YEARS.
— Mac aren’t going to fade away . I remember iPods taking the profit share years ago and people giving the same argument then : ” The share of the Macintosh in Apple’s monetary pie has become rather small”… iPod is now something like 1% of revenue, Macs earning more billions . IPhones can do everything an iPod can do but iPads can’t match Macs in many areas (heavy number crunching, Pro commercial graphics, even intensive word-processing etc). I have an iPad but for what I do it ain’t going to match my Mac Pro with two large monitors…
— The More Macs sold the better APPS we will get and faster . Developers need market share. I like playing strategy games for example and right now they are either PC ports from many years ago (which because the are ports are buggy) or don’t have Mac versions at all (the vast majority). and no I don’t want to spend money to load craptastic windows on my Mac Pro.