Thu, 19 Feb 2009 Mac sales fall six per cent in January

gregorsamsa said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Little wonder! I expect such falls to continue until Apple update all their desktops.

Che said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

The desktops wont make any difference, sales have been in freefall all last year.

I am sure someone commented only last week that the economic downturn would not affect Apple. mmmm.

Carl Mason said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Che said "sales have been in freefall all last year"

Hello, reality check? Apple has just reported its best ever quarter. Only weeks before that call, NPD was reporting a downturn in sales across the board. This is a market research firm, basically one step away from gazing into a crystal ball.

Natasha said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

We're holding off from buying two macbook pro's simply because the new design is so ugly. I don't feel any compulsion to run out and buy ugly mac's which look like Sony Vaio's.

Adam Young said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Apple will always go for revenue, rather than sales volume. Even if PC sales are up 16% (in volume), revenues wil be down thanx to low-cost zero-margin boxes. I'm still putting my money on Apple, even in the economic downturn.

WeegieMac said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

This loss is purely down to consumers sitting on their cash and waiting for new models to drop.

Brian said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Apple is ignoring the netbook phenomenon, netbook sales show that there is a demand for a small light cheap notebook size computer to carry around. Not everyone caan afford 1700$ for a Macbook air. What about a 10" Apple notebook, or Macbook? I am sure many Mac afficionados would go bonkers over one at around 500$.

Dragonfly said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Sale numbers will drop, that's only to be expected when fewer people are buying things on a whole. Releasing a new model now may just create a lot of desirable hardware that sits on shelves, so I'm not sure the timing would be right. Also Adam is right, it's not the quantity of zero margin boxes shifted (although that always dents OS X's User Base) it's about revenue per box. Apple could cut their product price in half and have a 20% increase in sales, but they wouldn't be making a profit.

Slinky said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Exactly. I don't see why 6 per cent is seen as such a big drop. Especially at the moment. Apple said that it thought people might delay purchases until the economy picked up. Looks like 1 in 20 potential Apple customers are waiting to see what happens to the economy. Big deal!

The company has 24 billion in the bank. It can just sit and wait till the economy picks up again.

As for the netbook thing. It's an age old argument about value rather than cost. Macs costs a lot but deliver good value because they are good computers with a good operating system that runs unique software. You get what you pay for.

Making things cheaper doesn't make them any better. Every netbook I've tried has been s**t.

Dragonfly said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

@Natasha

"We're holding off from buying two macbook pro's simply because the new design is so ugly. "

Are we looking at the same thing? I'd possibly accept 'ugly' (although totally disagree) as aesthetic appeal is subjective, but not 'SO ugly'. You've obviously not seen one in the flesh so to speak ?

They are many times better designed than the previous MacBookPro, in Strength, Weight, Size and Aesthetics.

Which 'one' part of the design is worse than the previous MacBook Pros ?

@Carl Mason said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Read the reports properly - desktop sales were way down 38%.

BJ said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

They are "SO ugly" even in the flesh. It was holding off until I saw it in the flesh and it was worse.

No upgrades this time.

Haku said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

When I consider all teh negative factors of the last year for Apple such as the state of the economy, a distinct lack of updates to desktop macs, silly pricing / dropping firewire from the new macbooks, no mac netbooks to compete with that increasingly popular section of the computer market I think a drop of just 6% overall on January last year is utterly outstanding.

M said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

The notion that it costs hundreds of dollars more to build a Mac than a PC is a triumph of marketing over financial sense. The price is deliberately inflated to maximse profits.

ascylto said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

I drew £2,000 out of a savings account ready to order the new iMac they introduced at MacWorld. They didn't. I got it completely wrong so I'm still waiting with the dosh. It will happen ... but when?

Slinky said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

@M All companies products are inflated to maximise profits, or were you labouring under the delusion that companies tried to get by making as little profit as possible because they're all so God-darn nice apart from Apple?

The question is whether it's worth paying. I think a MacBook is worth £719 but an MSI Wind isn't worth £250. I'll still be using the MacBook in five years time. The MSI Wind wouldn't last more than a month before I threw it in a cupboard and never used it again.

Rob said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Just update the damn thing - we all know there is a new iMac coming 'real soon now' so why is anyone surprised that the 'old' one isn't selling?

greendave said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

Have you read the analysts report about an iPhone Nano, or the one that claimed Apple would never sell 10 million iPhones, or the one about a Touch-Screen mac.....or the one about Apple having its best ever sales quarter? (Sorry that last one was true!)

Vikki said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

A 38% drop in desktops last year won't be filled by the release of the iMac. That is a big hole!

It is not just the iMac though, it's the whole desktop range and pretending Apple won't be affected by the global turn down is a whole lot of denial.

fedupwaiting said on Thu, 19 Feb 2009

I want to buy an imac or mac mini but am absolutely fed up of waiting for next revamp. Am certainly not going to purchase present model and if apple don't get their finger out soon will buy a pc instead

@Natasha said on Fri, 20 Feb 2009

You're holding off purchasing a MacBook Pro because they're ugly? Considering they've only been available since October and January you've got a long wait.

They won't see a form factor change for at least 2-3 years.