Mac shipments lowest they've been in 1.5 years
Apple reported amazing earnings in its conference call last week, but SwitchtoaMac.com says not so fast -- while it's true that there was a lot of sun shining in Apple's report, there is one small shadow that they obviously didn't mention: their shipments of new Macs have started to drop off for the first time in 5.5 years. And they're the lowest they've been in a year and a half.A problem? Not a terrible one, but as you can see from the chart over there, there is a definite downturn in new Mac shipments. That might actually be good news for Apple, though -- with the economy doing a nice downturn lately, less inventory might shore up sales a bit, and keep their budgets in line with estimations. Of course it would also mean fewer Mac sales (and despite the recent popularity of the iPhone and the iPod, Macs still make up the majority of Apple's revenue), but if customers aren't there, that's better than having warehouses full of computers paid for but not actually sold.
It's definitely not a sign that the company is going down in flames (in fact, all evidence says exactly the opposite), but it may be a sign that Apple's amazing growth is slowing down a bit.
Thanks, Larry T!
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Apple reported amazing earnings in its conference call last week, but SwitchtoaMac.com says not so fast -- while it's true that there was a...
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The only thing it shows is that the iMac was due for a refresh that it ended up getting in March - at the end of the quarter. Check back in August.
April 30 2009 at 8:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyQ2 of each proceeding year saw a similar decline... is it not just in anticipation of new product?
April 28 2009 at 7:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe recession has made the screens glossy.
April 28 2009 at 2:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis kind of story smacks of schadenfreude. People poo-poo Apple predicting dire failure, then have to pull any straw of bad news when Apple fails to fall down. Did anyone expect Mac sales to soar through the roof in this economy? The real news is that Apple sales for Macs and other things are stronger than one might reasonably expect.
April 28 2009 at 12:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhy does the Mac Pro cost $7000 for you when It starts at $2499- $3299 for the rest of us? And that includes 6GB of RAM, so give me a break.
That is competitive for a workstation.
Has one considered apple is offloading an increasing amount of hardware at their retail stores.
April 28 2009 at 8:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySee.. Mac sales don't mean a whole lot to Apple. I honestly believe that between the iPhone, iPods and iTunes, they could sell zero Macs in a quarter and they'd be just fine.
April 28 2009 at 7:06 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply@Level5,
"Mac sales don't mean a whole lot to Apple".
"they could sell zero Macs in a quarter and they'd be just fine"
C'mon man what are you thinking? Mac sales accounted for 36% of revenue in the quarter. The next best were iPods at 20%. If they sold zero Macs they'd be in serious trouble. Macs are the biggest business for Apple.
Wow really? My mistake then :)
I must had been getting some bogus numbers or whatnot. I really had figured the Mac was the least lucrative from places like CNN and CNET. I guess this quarter will be different, the March 09 iMacs did receive a price cut when they were outfitted with the Nvidia boards.
"Mac shipments lowest they've been in 1.5 years..."
And they are set to break a new record: I've ordered a top of the line 17" MBP on February 19 here in SE Europe the moment they were available for shipping (fully paid for it!) and to this day has yet to reach me! As an updated MBP is rumored to appear in WWDC in a couple of weeks I will have an outdated laptop before I will even get it. Way to go Apple!
Oh boy. You need to compare similar quarters, therefore the drop is only 3%, much lower than the industry. Q1 has traditionnally been weak since its the post-christmas 'void' before things pick up again with back-to-school sales.
Now be fair and show the mac sales graph since 2003.
but they said that Mac computers had a -3%.... that is not enough to justify the shipment fall off?
April 28 2009 at 3:01 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHot Apps on TUAW
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