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U.S. Mac Sales Flat in April as iPod Sales Continue to Slide

Monday May 20, 2013 10:32 am PDT by Eric Slivka
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today released a brief report highlighting April data from market research firm NPD looking at Apple's U.S. Mac and iPod sales. The data shows Apple's Mac sales coming in flat year-over-year, and while Munster acknowledges that it has become increasingly difficult to extrapolate NPD's numbers to Apple's global sales performance, he views the latest data as "neutral to slight positive" relative to expectations for the company.
Based on the differences between NPD data and Apple reported Mac sales over the past few quarters, we note it is becoming more difficult to draw conclusions from NPD data (see table below). We note that some of the more recent supply issues with the redesigned Macs have impacted the Apple reported numbers over the past two quarters. At the end of the day, we believe this April data point is likely a neutral to slight positive given our expectation that iPads will continue to cannibalize Macs over the next few years.
Munster stands by his predictions of 5% year-over-year decline in Mac sales for the second quarter as customers await updated models and the PC market remains weak.

shop_mac_ipod
On the iPod side, Munster only briefly cites NPD data showing sales sliding 36% year-over-year, compared to the Piper Jaffray estimate of a 23% decline for the entire quarter on a worldwide basis. But with iPod sales now representing only about 2% of Apple's revenue, the impact of the continued decline in iPod sales as customers shift increasingly to smartphones will be negligible.

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lilo777
79 months ago

Mac computers remain the benchmark for computers. Nothing else comes close.


There is one problem with this statement: Mac computers always lag behind PCs in benchmarks.
Rating: 18 Votes
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Oletros
79 months ago

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster


Nuff said
Rating: 15 Votes
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Four oF NINE
79 months ago
Mac computers remain the benchmark for computers. Nothing else comes close.
Rating: 10 Votes
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chirpie
79 months ago
I think the iPod's road will be harder and harder as time marches on. Everyone and their dog has a phone that, once they upgrade, you could hand it off to someone else, and even if that person doesn't use the functionality of the phone, they're still left with something that's essentially a top of the line iPod Touch.

Can you say nearing point of device saturation? ^_^;
Rating: 9 Votes
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Unggoy Murderer
79 months ago

There is one problem with this statement: Mac computers always lag behind PCs in benchmarks.

There's just one problem with this statement: Mac computers always lag behind PCs in benchmarks that don't really matter.

i.e. I know I'll get five hours out of my MacBook Pro at university. My old Dell laptop (three years old now) struggled to last two hours. My screen is of a significantly higher standard than almost every laptop out there. Build quality's top notch, incredible support, high re-sale value.

I don't care if your laptop can do the Egypt OpenGLES Offscreen render or whatever 12% faster than my MacBook. I know for a fact Safari will be snappier for me than you can get it.

Also: Do some research (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Windows-Best-Laptop-Performance-Crashes-Windows-on-Mac,news-43703.html).
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
lilo777
79 months ago

I'm probably repeating myself...

As usual, lilo tries putting a negative spin on things, and as usual, she fails. Most cheap laptops that are sold come with the absolute bottom line of Intel or worse AMD processors. For example, Dell doesn't sell anything with quad core processors that is cheaper than a MacBook Pro with Retina display.



Dell sells cheap laptop. So what? If you talk about benchmarks, Dell's top of the line laptops (mobile workstations) easily beat Mac Book Pros.
Rating: 6 Votes
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cclloyd
79 months ago
I know nobody who bought an iPod new in the last 3 years.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Zachari
79 months ago

I know nobody who bought an iPod new in the last 3 years.


Do you have children? Are you a child? All of my little siblings including all of there friends have iPod touches. Parents buy them for there kids instead of having to fork out the cash for a contract. As long as little children are around and apple keeps creating them, there will be a demand.
Rating: 5 Votes
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BB1970
79 months ago

I know nobody who bought an iPod new in the last 3 years.


Do any of your friends work out??
Rating: 5 Votes
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gnasher729
79 months ago

There is one problem with this statement: Mac computers always lag behind PCs in benchmarks.


I'm probably repeating myself...

As usual, lilo tries putting a negative spin on things, and as usual, she fails. Most cheap laptops that are sold come with the absolute bottom line of Intel or worse AMD processors. For example, Dell doesn't sell anything with quad core processors that is cheaper than a MacBook Pro with Retina display.

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Probably not. But Mac fans definitely have been sounding very scared lately.


Huh? And I thought you were totally scared, and that was why you post rubbish about Macs at every opportunity.
Rating: 5 Votes

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