Analyst notes Mac uptick with Windows releases

Microsoft's launch next week of Windows 7 could paradoxically help Apple's Mac sales, analyst data shows today. Broadpoint AmTech researcher Brian Marshall notes that, historically, every major Windows release in the past 10 years has coincided with a significant spike in Mac purchases either during the same calendar quarter or within a few quarters afterwards. The effect was particularly pronounced for Vista, as Mac sales surged in fall 2007 and have been very high ever since.

Marshall doesn't necessarily see the Windows releases themselves steering customers to the Mac, although Vista's release has been credited both by Apple and by observers as helping the Mac through its early compatibility and performance problems. A small but significant portion of Windows XP users are known to have opted for the Mac rather than make the upgrade to the then-current Microsoft OS.

Windows 7 is already considered one of Microsoft's stronger releases thanks to extensive pre-release testing and may avoid triggering a second Vista effect, but the analyst predicts that the historical patterns could contribute to a predicted doubling of Apple's worldwide market share to eight percent by 2013.

By Electronista Staff