Analyst claims 80pc of students buying Macs

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry made a contentious claim Friday that Apple's back-to-school promo was showing signs of being much more effective than Microsoft's. Despite Microsoft giving away free Xboxes with PCs, research in an investment note from GER showed that 80 percent of incoming students were buying Macs, not Windows systems. Trends were up for online-only colleges and universities, while returning students later into their studies were very interested in getting iPads, Chowdry said in AppleInsider's copy of the note, which didn't mention the size of the study sample.

The purchasing habits of the students buying Macs early on into the promo wasn't what Apple had been grooming them to be. Although almost all of Apple's focus has been on buying Mac apps, a majority were buying songs, the study showed. While GER didn't try to explain the issue, many students often mostly want Microsoft Office, which isn't in the Mac App Store, and aren't necessarily inclined to buy iWork apps or equivalents.

Microsoft's promo is theoretically more valuable at $200 versus Apple's $100. Much of its core audience, however, might already own an Xbox or would prefer the 250GB version to the 4GB Arcade model that qualifies for the deal. The console designer may have also ironically sabotaged itself with the Kinect since the controller isn't included and costs $150, or most of the price of the Xbox itself.

Apple was enjoying added success in enterprise as well, Chowdhry wrote. He believed that about 35 percent of the Fortune 500 was giving workers the choice of a Mac, and the "majority" of those that had the choice were taking the Mac. He saw Apple's success with the iPad en enterprise as having a ripple effect that was having them consider iPhones and Macs at the same time, in some cases with influence coming from top-down as management's own use leads to the option for more staff.

GER was upping its revenue estimates for Apple as well as a 12-month target share value of $400. The firm believed iTunes could lead to $13 billion in revenues for Apple's fiscal 2013. Overall increases in the App Store as well as new additions like the iBookstore were driving Apple's bottom line. The app ecosystem was also proving to be an advantage over Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone.

By Electronista Staff