Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/09/apple_mac_sales_surge/
The 3G iPhone may be getting all the attention this week, but let's not forget Apple's other product line, the Mac family, which is enjoying new-found success thanks to... Microsoft.
According to US investment house BMO Capital Markets, cited (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/08/apple_may_have_shipped_2_5_million_macs_in_spring_thanks_to_vista.html) by AppleInsider, Apple will have shipped up to 2.5m Macs between April and June inclusive - enough for a 39 per cent year-on-year growth rate.
More to the point, that rate of increase is more than three times the industry average of 12.2 per cent.
BMO analyst Keith Bachman told investors that it's largely the result of Windows Vista: "Thus far, user satisfaction ratings for Vista have been weak, and start-up times for Vista have been known to be much slower than the Mac OS X. Thus, more than 50 per cent of recent customers buying Macs in Apple retail stores are first-time buyers."
Pricing is helping too. Mac specs may not match directly PCs from rival suppliers, but Apple has the balance between price, performance and features about right, Bachman reckons. Experienced tech buyers may disagree, but if BMO's numbers prove correct, the Mac family is clearly winning over plenty of consumers.
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