Entry 235, on 2005-10-12 at 14:13:14 (Rating 2, Computers)
Its been a while since Apple delivered any really bad news, and even the incredibly intelligent and perceptive (not) members of the PC press seem to have stopped predicting the end of Apple. But the results announced by Apple today seem to exceed even the optimistic predictions of Apple's many supporters.
We expected a lot of iPods would be sold, and there were over 6 million sold in the quarter. That's amazing, but its Mac sales that really matter, so it was great to see 1,236,000 Macs shipped in the same period. This is an increase of 48%, not quite as spectacular as the 220% increase in iPods but still very significant.
In related news, a business analysis group says Apple's market share increased from 4.3% in this quarter last year, to 6.6% this year. We all know that the total number of Macs is much greater than this, because people keep their Macs for much longer than they would a PC (because Macs are useful for longer, and also cost more to start with, so Mac owners are more hesitant to replace older machines).
I would expect Apple to be going through tough times now, because the PowerPC processor isn't as competitive as it was, and the imminent release of Intel Macs is stopping many people from upgrading immediately. So the excellent sales are good news at a time when sales could be slow. Hopefully when the new Macs are released even better results will be seen.
So this is great news for all Apple supporters, and its also great news for everyone else, whether they know it or not, because to a large extent the industry relies on Apple for innovation - it certainly isn't coming from Microsoft!
Comment 1 by Anon on 2005-10-13 at 17:23:44:
I agree with OJB, Apple is cool! And today they announced the Video iPod and the new iMac G5. I've go to get both of those!
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