14 DAY TRIAL // Released to business as of November 30, 2007 and to the general public on January 30, 2007, Windows Vista failed to impact the market evolution of Mac computers. Posting financial results for its fiscal 2007 second quarter ended March 31, 2007 Apple boasted a profit of $770 million and an year-over-year growth of 88%. Even in the context of Windows Vista, Apple still managed to ship 1,517,000 Macintosh computers, growing the Mac business by 24%.
Windows Vista was not a sufficient incentive for Mac users to convert to PCs, as the operating system is approaching three months of availability on the market. According to data made available by Market Share by Net Applications Windows Vista is credited with a 2.04% share of the operating system market as of March 2007.
At the end of the past month Market Share by Net Applications reported that Mac OS' market share was down for the second consecutive month since January, dropping to just 3.94%. Still, a rise in the share of Mac Intel made up for this drop. Mac Intel accounted for a share of 2.14%, ahead of Windows Vista.
"The Mac is clearly gaining market share, with sales growing 36 percent-more than three times the industry growth rate," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're very excited about the upcoming launch of iPhone in late June, and are also hard at work on some other amazing new products in our pipeline."
And as Apple has reported its most profitable March quarter in the company's history, it is obviously clear that Windows Vista and Mac OS X have completely different trajectories, that intersect and influence each other only superficially. However, analysts predict that the Windows Vista will take its toll on the Mac in the second half of 2007. "There is no Vista element in the first half of the year. Apple will see tightened competition when Vista gets out there more," revealed David Daoud, IDC manager.