No matter how the numbers are sliced and diced, Apple’s Mac sales are exploding, mostly in the above $1,000 price range, of course. Joe Wilcox in AppleWatch:
Apple’s retail market share is 14 percent, and two-thirds for PCs costing $1,000 or more. Should I repeat those numbers? The share data is for first-quarter brick-and-mortar stores, as tabulated by the NPD Group. Apple’s market share is but one measure of success. Sales growth is way up, while Windows desktop PC sales are way down.
That’s for retail sales. The Mac is double digit market share over all, and a commanding share of the premium (read: highly profitable) notebook market.
Apple’s retail stores aren’t just places to buy Mac products. They’re part of a larger end-to-end value chain—and with it the promise of a certain kind of experience.
That’s Apple’s perfect storm; the end-to-end value chain, the whole experience; Mac, iPod, iPhone, all in an OS X wrapper.