Apple's back-to-school promo clobbering Microsoft's efforts
Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry issued a note to investors earlier this week pointing out that education sales of Appleâs Macs have been significantly outselling Windows PCs. The firmâs research indicated that â80% of incoming students are buying Apple Computers vs. Windows Computers.â
Apple this year is offering education customers a $100 iTunes store credit with the purchase of a qualifying Mac. The deal was originally thought to be less attractive than the promotion from recent years, but, based on the recent statistics, interest in this yearâs promotion has not suffered as a result of the change.
Interestingly enough, though Appleâs advertisements suggest students would use the credit to buy apps from the Mac App Store, most are choosing to buy songs. The report also notes that Senior students are showing âstrong interestâ in purchasing an iPad before school begins, while more students attending online universities such as Phoenix Online are buying Macs than in years past.
Chowdrhy also reports that Apple is enjoying substantial success in the Enterprise. New data indicates that âprobably about 35% of Fortune 500 companies are giving Apple as a Choice to its employees, and majority are preferring Apple over Windows.â
The report believes that Apple's gains are a result of âthe success of iPad is putting pressure on Enterprise IT to not only support iPad, but also Apple iPhones and Apple iMacs and MacBooks,â going as far as to say that high-level executives are âinfluencing the IT to bring Apple products into the Enterprise.â
GER predicts that iTunes will contribute $13 billion in revenues in fiscal 2013, due to increased support of Appleâs iBook Store and rising sales in App Store, which has recently passed 15 billion downloads.
In one final comment sure to please the Cupertino, Calif.-based iPhone maker, the firmâs report suggests that the âApple iOS Developer Ecosystem continues to grow at the expense of Android, RIMM and Windows.â Chowdhry said âdevelopers are increasingly developingâ for iOS, with iOS 5 serving as âanother catalystâ in shifting developer momentum.
To conclude, GER adjusted its revenue estimates upward âto reflect a strong back to school sales of Apple computers, market share wins of Apple in the enterprise and acceleration in Appleâs iBook and AppStore.â The analyst predicts the âOtherâs categoryâ in Appleâs iTunes will have a compound annual growth rate of 39 percent over the next three years, though he cautions that rising gasoline prices could negatively affect âall Equities including Apple.â The analyst reiterated the firmâs 12 month price target of $400.