Neil Hughes
Asia-Pacific was highlighted as the primary "bright spot" for the Mac in the last quarter by analyst Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company. Shipment growth of 40 percent in the region offset negative year-over-year growth in the U.S. and Europe.
Shipments were down in the U.S. and Europe because Apple didn't update any of its Mac lineup in the first quarter of calendar 2012. But the lack of new products didn't hinder growth in Asia-Pacific, where Apple easily outpaced the overall PC market's year-over-year growth of just 3.6 percent.
The strong performance in Asia-Pacific allowed global Mac shipments to grow 6.9 percent in the March quarter, which meant that Apple once again outpaced overall PC shipment growth. The total worldwide PC market saw its shipments increase 2.2 percent year over year in the March quarter.
Still, with the lack of new products, Apple didn't beat the overall PC market by as wide of a margin as it did in December, when Mac shipments grew 24.8 percent compared to a 1.7 percent decline in total PC shipments.
"We believe the slowdown (in the March quarter) can be attributed primarily to the absence of any upgrades of Mac models during the quarter, which has typically been a catalyst for shipment growth," Wolf wrote in a note to investors on Thursday. "However, we expect Apple to upgrade both the iMac and MacBooks in June, in advance of the back-to-school buying season."
Some rumors have suggested Apple plans to introduce new Macs at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference when it kicks off with a keynote presentation on Monday, June 11. Specifically, Apple is expected to introduce new MacBook Pros with Retina displays and a thinner design inspired by the MacBook Air, as well as new iMacs that could also receive a Retina display upgrade.
The absence of new Macs in the March quarter also didn't hurt Apple in the business market, where Mac sales grew by 10.4 percent year over year. That easily outpaced Windows, which saw its business sales grow just 0.1 percent.
Wolf also said that the iPad has "undoubtedly" cannibalized sales of the Mac from Apple, particularly in the education market. But given that iPad sales are growing at a rate much faster than Mac sales, he believes the iPad is taking a "much bigger bite" out of Windows-based PC sales.
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8 Comments
Apple doesn't seem to have quarterly sales goals. A lot of companies push out new product early enough in a quarter so as to appreciatively affect sales numbers. Apple doesn't bother. When it's ready, and they have a time to announce it, they will.
Didn't we learn all there was to learn about the March quarter from apple's earnings press release and conference call? Is there anything new here?
Interesting to see how a really major component of Apple's growth now comes from outside the US.
Somewhat ironic, considering the many folks that want Apple to move manufacturing back to the US, which will only make the product less competitive vis-a-vis the rest of the world.
[quote name="anantksundaram" url="/t/150401/mac-shipments-grow-40-in-asia-even-without-new-models-from-apple#post_2118815"]Interesting to see how a really major component of Apple's growth now comes from outside the US. Somewhat ironic, considering the many folks that want Apple to move manufacturing [I]back[/I] to the US, which will only make the product less competitive vis-a-vis the rest of the world. [/quote] For those folks it's really about politics and ideology, nothing else. They don't care about the business aspects, just the "Apple is evil" mantra.
Not politics, i would say just plain old envy.
Why should Apple be more aware of the savage capitalism in Asia?
They suddenly forgot their old mantra, Apple owns just a fragment of the PC market. If most homes owns Windows PC and only few people actually own an iPad or the iPhone and forget the Mac altogether, why target Apple only?
Actually wages are better now in China.
You see jealousy Windows users hammering on their Windows PC assembled in China/Thailand both which are NOT democracies, complaining about abuse of workers.
But the worst is watching ignorant journalists at BBC aiming at Apple just because it makes HUGE money, contrasting with their blend/sympathetic take on BP over oil spill in the USA.
BTW why is British journalist compared with some few British people i actually knew seems sooo hypocrite?
… from my old iPodTouch.