Wonder if This Has Something to Do With Those Laptop Hunter Ads…
by John Paczkowski
Posted on July 23, 2009 at 8:50 AM PT
The high-end PC market is not a bad place to be. Just ask Apple, which rules it and with great financial success.
According to new stats from NPD Group, Apple now claims 91 percent of the U.S. retail market for personal computers costing more than $1,000. Nine out of 10 dollars spent on such machines in June went to Cupertino.
Now, granted, Cupertino only sells three Macs priced below $1,000 (the 13-inch MacBook and both versions of the Mac Mini), and Apple’s (AAPL) rivals’ offerings typically price out in the $690 -to-$703 range. Still, that 91 percent metric is impressive.
As Joe Wilcox over at Betanews puts it, “A (higher pricing) doesn’t necessarily lead to B (greater sales). All major Windows OEMs sell PCs in the premium category, too. Apple’s charging more isn’t necessarily recipe for people paying more for Macs, or their capturing big revenue share.”
That said, as NPD analyst Stephen Baker points out, Windows product average selling prices have been falling pretty rapidly over time, especially at retail, so it was inevitable that Apple’s share of the high-end market would rise, since the company hasn’t really altered its pricing philosophy.
Comments
Copying Apple commercials is just the pc’s admission that mac is better.
-Nikki-
Posted by Nikki Thomas at July 23rd, 2009 at 9:43 amWell, this figure used to be around 60% in late 2008. So: yes, the laptop hunter ads have been the same success as the “Mojave Experiment” and Gates’ butt shaking… “I am a PC and I sell fish”.
Posted by Uwe Rueckeshaeuser at July 23rd, 2009 at 9:44 amThe silly laptop commercials are just free advertising for Apple. You want a better product, you pay a little more. Can’t afford it now, then do something smart and save up to afford it. Patience is a virtue.
Posted by Jubei Kiwagami at July 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 amI think the reason Apple has 91 percent of the market over $1000 is that most people learned early on that “you get what you pay for.”
Posted by Dave Small at July 23rd, 2009 at 10:10 amA post at the original story notes the market being discussed is retail store sales. Hmmm. Then this story is partly helpful.
What this post here fails to tell is how much of the total computer market is now “premium” machines.
So if Apple is gaining share of a diminishing piece of the total pie, that needs to be pointed out… I don’t see anything here that explains any of that.
Posted by tom sowa at July 23rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm