Mac US market growth in Q4 31% vs. 3% PC growth

If you don't know anything about Macs then enough with the dumb comments about fanboys and proprietary things that aren't. Your just making yourself sound like an idiot.

Anyway.

I work at a very well known company as an Enterprise Architect and use Macs at home. I started with the 128k Mac in 1984 but dropped off the Mac scene in the mid-90's when Apple had so many issues. OS X reinvigorated my interest and I have been back on Macs since 10.2. Over the last year almost all the high level architects and engineers have switched to Macs at home and at work. Lots of vendors and consultants that come in are doing the same.

When apple quits shoving propriety products down people's throats, I might buy one.

Instead of using OS %, look at share of market of each PC manufacturer, realizing that's what Apple is: a manufacturer of Personal Computers. Where does Apple stand? In 2006, I suspect 3rd after HP/Compaq and Dell. Ahead of Sony and all others. So soon, maybe Apple will be in second place instead of third!

I buy computers for a public high school, and I can tell you that I've been holding off buying a dozen Macs until the new operating system comes out. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Yes, the growth will continue.

Here are some reliable market share #'s from a websire called maket share by www.netapplications.com this is a link

http://marketshare.hitslink.com

Mac OS and Mac Intel are kept as 2 separate OSes, in January of '06 MacOS had 4.21% of the market, and Windows, all versions combined had 95.4%

In December of '06 MacOS(Both MacOS and Mac Intel) had 5.67% while Windows(all versions again) dropped to 93.87%, so obviously Mac broke into Microsofts market share, but when you dominate the market with over 95% it is hard to keep those numbers, only 1 out of 19 people who swich computers need to switch to another OS.

I am not going to give exact numbers since I have no clue how many new computers were put into use in '06, but lets assume there was 15% increase.

For every 100 computers already in existance in Jan Microsoft had 95.4 of them after Dec 2006 they have 107.9 of every 115(a 15% increase) that is a net gain of 12.5 new computers

For every 100 computers alread in existance in Jan Mac had 4.21 of them after Dec 2006 they had 6.5 of every 115, a net gain of 2.5 computers. Microsoft still outsold Mac 5 to 1.(If there were say 100 million computers are in use, Windows sold 12.5 Million to 2.5 Million Macs in '06)

For Mac to have gained in total numbers in 2006, we have to assume the market grew less than 3.4% that is a very small percentage, because remember, this includes business, 2nd computers, laptops ect. For every 103.5(3.5% increase) in use, Mac would have 5.87 a gain of 1.66 and Microsoft would have 97.06 a gain of 1.66. At a 3.5% increase Microsoft would start pulling further away from Mac at 1.67 for Mac and 1.76.

So basically it is nice that Mac grew 31% but more than likely they are still falling further and further behind windows.

Word-of-mouth and perceived fashion are very important when it comes to sale of macs. A couple of years ago somebody brought his shiny new iBook to our A-Level computing class, much to the disgust of our anti-mac, PC-worshipping teacher. Within a few months, two more had turned up, and several more (myself included) were busy saving up and discussing which one to get (with copious visits to the Apple website). Few of us would ever have considered buying one had they not become 'chic' amongst our peer group. I'm not saying that's the only reason we did, but it's certainly the reason we became aware of the superiority of Apple computers over PCs.

I agree cyberdork, word-of-mouth is very strong. That's how I got an iMac and my friends are certainly considering one.

The blog says we didn't see anything exciting in a while. Well, at the beginning of this year there was big news, i.e. Intel based machines with the ability to run Windows. I really think even having the option to run MS (maybe not using it) lowered the threshold for many. I guess it just takes time before this gets known by people who don't anxiously wait for the next keynote...

As much of an Apple fan as I am, you can make numbers work any way you want them to... 3% growth of a 95% market actually amounts to more than 30% growth of a 5% market.

It is great and substantial that Apple has 31% growth, but it really can't be compared to the PC market. I would love to see Apple get even 10% of the market, but I don't think they will ever be a substantial player (and I really don't want them to either... I'm happy with Mac right now.)

Ok, here is my story of Mac market share growth:
In 1996 I bought a Mac. At the same time I started doing to work in the Netherlands were almost nobody was using Macs and everyone thought I'm a freak for using a Mac.

Nothing changed until 2003 when I bought a 2nd hand iMac. Soon after that a friend of mine also bought a 2nd hand iMac. In 2004 I bought an iBook, my brother followed and this friend also bought an iBook. A few months later I arranged a 2nd hand iMac for my best friend who has turned into a true Apple fan. The other friend by now switched to an Mac Book Pro. My brother and I are waiting for Core2Duo Mac minis to buy.
Additionally at the research institute were I work I all of a sudden see people using iBooks, PowerBooks and MacBook Pros, while I converted my PC at work to a 'Hackintosh'. Last thing I heard was that another colleague ordered a 24" iMac.

That's in the Netherlands where just a few years ago nobody would have ever considered buying an Apple product.

A.f.a.i.k.
Mac market share in the US was close to 5% (not around 3%) last time I saw sorta reliable figures (which must be about a year ago) So the must markedly higer by now.

PC-market 2005: 1.000.000 #
PC-market 2006: 1.030.000 #

Assume Mac market share of 5% in 2005,
So in 2005, 50.000 Macs were sold

2006 Mac units 50.000 * 1,31 = 65.500, Growth of 15.500 units.
Which is over half of the total of 30.000.

Anybody got reliable market share numbers? :)