Josh Ong:
Analyst Charlie Wolf of Needham & Co. informed investors on Wednesday that Mac shipment growth in the third quarter of calendar 2011 outpaced the PC market for the 22nd straight quarter. Apple’s 24.6 percent growth dwarfed the 5.3 percent growth in total PC shipments.
The growth in Macs is obviously great news for Apple. The computers are following the same trend as the rest of the company’s products like the iPhone and iPad in that they are selling them by the millions.
Computer buyers want the iMac, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, just as much as consumers want the iPhone and iPad. With Apple’s tight integration, especially with the release of iCloud, it’s easier than ever to share media and personal information between devices.
Apple made it easy for consumers to use their products, and they are responding by purchasing record numbers of devices.
Interesting to note that their previous high was back in their “beleaguered” days. I always thought Apple did not have a financial or marketshare problem back then, but purely a PR problem.
The drop in the bucket investment from MS worked wonders. It got the DOJ off the back of MS, and it convinced the public that Apple was a safe bet so they could continue buying their products.
Look. I’m a Mac Mac from way back, and I know there are solid, rational reasons for Apple’s climb, and that in many ways they are a company just like any other, subject to the same highs and lows…
But, like other users of what was once considered an “orphan platform” destined for history’s dustbin, I do feel inclined at times to shout a giant “FUCK YOU” from the rooftops at every PC suffering dolt that routinely attacked my choice of home computer, ran down my hardware as made for “cultists” and took glee in Apple’s misfortune ( I still remember the day a coworker in the field ambulance unit I was posted to bursting into my tech shop to tell me ‘Microsoft bought Apple!’ and how this meant it was truly over for Apple as an independent company) as if the mere fact that I had a choice of computer platform in the first place was an affront to every “right thinking” tech nerd in the world. Apple lost it’s way for a while but it’s found it’s roots again, and while i find it remarkably easy to work with whatever is put in front of me because that’s my job, my preference always was and now seems it can always be Apple. I don’t mock or denigrate friends, family and former acquaintances who after all these years find themselves using Macs and iPhones and iPads, because who better to illustrate Apple’s progress than having people formerly opposed to the mere idea of alternatives now using Apple products?
But some days, I want to rub it in the faces of everyone who time and time again dismissed Apple, Jobs and Apple products, and grin and gloat and say “I told you so”.
But given Apple’s reach and influence, the numbers kind of speak for themselves, don’t they?
I prefer to not allow myself to give a shit what computer/OS other people use, or think about what I use.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy banging on a Windows user having problems with their computer… but ultimately, I don’t try to talk them out of using Windows.
I really wonder if Intel is doing its usual sneaky punishment for a computer manufacturer attempting to break away from some secret exclusionary agreement? I think Intel is punishing Apple with Ultrabooks…
What did Apple do (or try to do) that would make Intel want to initiate a worldwide campaign to clone Apple’s Macbook Air?