14 DAY TRIAL // The iPod has been doing wonders for Apple these past few years, but now, with such a large market share, it is beginning to see less growth. In the meantime, Apple's core business- that of computers, is on the up and up, and things look good for Apple this holiday season.
The latest consumer spending survey from ChangeWave Research, conducted Sept 26 - Oct 2, shows a huge and still growing pool of consumers reporting they're more likely to buy one of their new Mac computers equipped with Intel microprocessor chips. This is not exactly new as this trend could be seen as soon as Apple announced the transition back in 2005, however, the numbers are the key here. Of the 3,046 members of the ChangeWave Alliance, 37% now say they're more likely to buy an Apple PC because of the Intel chip, which is almost double the 19% found in a June 2005 survey.
Portables have been good for Apple, with the MacBooks being particularly well loved. Over the past 9 months, the number of people who bought an Apple portable in the past 90 days grew from 4% in January to 12% in the current survey. Not a lot of companies can see that rate of growth.
"In a world where a 1% market share change represents $2 billion in sales, we're forecasting a historic market share shift in the PC space for laptops and desktops with these new Intel-based Macs," said Tobin Smith, founder of ChangeWave Research and editor of ChangeWave Investing, in the press release. "Market share grabs like this just don't happen in the PC world. Our numbers say that the Mac is surging. We think it will 'iPod the PC' world by this time next year."