Mac sales in the enterprise during Apple's last fiscal quarter grew a whopping 66 percent, significantly outpacing the rest of the PC market, which grew just 4.5 percent in the enterprise.
Mac sales a year ago were exceptionally strong, making Apple's year-over-year sales increase in April 2011 a "soft" 9 percent.
Apple's iPad accounted for 74 percent of tablet shipments in the first quarter of 2011, as combined Mac and iPad sales made Apple one of the top five PC vendors in the world by volume.
Driven by strong sales of the new Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Pro lineup, domestic Mac sales are estimated to have increased 47 percent year over year in the month of March.
Apple's line of Mac computers saw great success in the U.S. in the first quarter of calendar 2011, growing 9.6 from 2010, while the rest of the American market fell 10.7 percent and netbook maker Acer tumbled 42.1 percent.
U.S. Mac sales were on the low end of expectations — but still up 16 percent year over year — in the first two months of the March quarter, ahead of Apple's release of the new MacBook Pro lineup.
The latest U.S. sales data shows Apple's Mac sales are up 20 percent year over year, putting the company on pace to meet an expected 3.6 million units sold in the March quarter.
With Mac and iPad sales combined, Apple computer sales grew 241 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2010, vaulting the company into third place in worldwide PC sales research, firm Canalys revealed on Wednesday.
New domestic sales data from the NPD Group shows that Apple's U.S. Mac sales were up 18 percent year-over-year during the holidays, suggesting that the company remains on track to report its best quarterly Mac sales ever.
Apple is on pace to have yet another record breaking quarter for Mac sales, this time crossing the 4 million milestone in a three-month span for the first time ever.
If the iPad is categorized as equivalent to a traditional laptop, Apple is the largest mobile PC seller in the U.S., and the third-largest worldwide.
For the first time ever, Apple is the dollar share leader in the U.S. home PC market, with the Mac taking 29.4 percent of every dollar earned from domestic home computer sales.
Reclassifying the iPad as a PC in terms of sales would catapult Apple past rivals Dell and HP, elevating the Mac maker to the No. 1 computer manufacturer in the U.S., one Wall Street analyst has noted.
Apple's share of the U.S. personal computer market grew more than 13% to reach a modern day high of 10.4% for the third quarter of 2010, leaving it just 17,000 units shy of becoming the nation's third largest PC vendor. [Updated with IDC data]
New domestic sales data shows Apple is on pace to sell as many as 3.8 million Macs in the September quarter, up 23 percent from the same period a year ago.
Valve's monthly survey of the hardware specifications of Steam users has found that nearly half of Mac gamers run a MacBook Pro, while the iMac accounts for nearly a quarter.
Apple's Mac sales to enterprise and government customers in the June quarter saw tremendous growth, easily beating competing PC makers in the three-month span.
A prominent Wall Street analyst has upped his price target for Apple stock from $280 to $375, citing stronger than expected iPad, iPhone and Mac sales, and the fact that the company remains "a small fish in three very large ponds."
U.S. Mac sales increased again in June, the third month of Apple's fiscal quarter, growing 11 percent and foreshadowing an announcement of strong sales in Apple's earnings report Tuesday.
Quarterly estimated PC sales were released Wednesday afternoon, revealing that Apple was the fourth-largest computer maker in the U.S., shipping 1.6 million units during the second quarter of calendar 2010.
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Neil Hughes
Sam Oliver
AppleInsider Staff
Katie Marsal
Slash Lane
