NPD: Mac sales up 15% so far in spring, likely on target
updated 04:35 pm EDT, Mon June 13, 2011
Piper, NPD say Mac sales ticking up
NPD data gleaned by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster Monday showed a more optimistic view of Mac sales in the spring than initial April results. They now showed year-over-year sales up 15 percent in April and May, higher than the nine percent seen earlier. Munster noted that Apple was likely to near the 2011 street target of 22 percent since last June saw it grow just 11 percent, making a higher year-to-year gain relatively easy.
The performance is almost certainly expected to be ahead of the rest of the PC industry. NPD data showed the combined field declining about four percent in early 2011, while Gartner saw PC growth slowing down to about 9.3 percent. Apple's computer shipments have been growing faster than the industry for about the past five years.
Apple has been helped by the launch of new iMacs to shore up desktops. A possible wildcard, however, could be new MacBook Air systems launching as soon as this week. The current ultraportables have been much more successful than earlier models and could theoretically make up as much as 50 percent of portable Macs in the quarters ahead.
He saw Apple possibly hitting targets of 4.2 million Macs for the whole period, owing mostly to international expansion.
On an financial level, Munster saw Apple once again faring better than its own guidance, with its sequential revenue dropping a comparatively small three percent versus the seven percent drop Apple had forecast for itself. The results could still be lower than the predicted one point drop from the overall market.
