Not Dead Yet – The Mac’s Still Kicking

Macworld’s Ian Paul says that while the rise of tablets and smartphones may be contributing to the decline of the PC market as a whole, for years now, Apple’s Mac lineup has continued to flourish, and if you look at long-term trends of Apple’s quarterly numbers, unit sales of the desktops and laptops grew steadily year over year over the past decade until the end of 2012. He notes that in 2003, Apple shipped just over 3 million Macs worldwide, accounting for more than 72 percent of Apple’s overall revenue. However in Apple’s 2011-2012 financial year, when the company sold more than 18 million Macs, Mac sales then accounted for less than 15 percent of Apple’s bottom line.

However, Macs are still doing better than the PC market generally, and Paul contends that there are three reasons for that continued relative success:

1) Apple’s own retail stores gave the company more direct communication with Mac buyers and let the customers get hands-on time with the company’s products.

2) The switch to Intel processors in 2006 gave the Mac’s performance a leg up.

3) Demand for notebooks began to regularly exceed sales of desktop machines, and by 2013, they outsold desktops by three to one. And Apple makes great laptops.

However, even with diminishing prominence, Paul says MacBooks and iMacs still have an important role to play in Apple’s overall business, and its steady approach to the Macs evolution seems like the right course.

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