Apple Catches Microsoft – At Least For One Sales Quarter

Blogger Benedict Evans draws our attention to a watershed quietly passed by Apple in the fourth quarter of 2013. For the first time during that quarter Apple computers sold globally (including Macs, iPhones, iPod touches and iPads) outnumbered Windows PCs sold globally, (including Microsoft Surface and other Windows tablets), and if Windows Phone devices are included in the comparison it’s pretty much neck-and-neck.

Ergo, even though Apple focuses exclusively on the high end of the mobile market, it sold more units than the whole Windows PC industry, although Evans adds the caveat that Apple’s sales are more seasonal than microsofts, and the latter will probably be back on top in this quarter.

Still, Apple has come a long way from the “beleaguered” days of hanging onto a scant 2.5 percent of the personal computer market by tis proverbial fingernails, while Microsoft’s OSes accounted for about 95 percent.

For Evans’s comments see:
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/2/12/apple-passes-microsof

Benedict Evans’s Twitter feed:
https://mobile.twitter.com/BenedictEvans