[geeks] RE: Reevaluating Macintosh (was Dual Xeon vs Dual G4)

[Gavin Hubbard]

Hi Lads

Without wanting to single anyone out, I think that some of the statements
made about Apple are a little optimistic. 

Here is the actual data on Apple Global sales over the last three years.
The Apple figures are compiled from Apple's SEC filings and the Total
figures come from IDC. All of the figures are in 1000's of units shipped.  

Sorry about the text table - you'll need a constant width font.

         Apple  Total  Market-share

1999 Q3    772  27887      2.77%
     Q4   1377  33178      4.15%
2000 Q1   1043  39356      3.44%
     Q2   1016  30100      3.38%
     Q3   1122  33522      3.35%
     Q4    659  36681      1.80%
2001 Q1    751  35000      2.15%
     Q2    827  29783      2.18%
     Q3    850  29122      2.92%
     Q4    746  34232      2.18%
2002 Q1    813  31359      2.59%
     Q2    808  29895      2.70%
     Q3    734  32600      2.25%
     Q4    743  38400      1.93%

If you do a linear regression on these figures you will see that Apple
marketshare (on new shipments) has dropped from 3% to 2% in the last three
years. Please bear in mind that these figures are for Global sales, not US
sales (the US market-share for Apple in 2002 Q4 was 3%).

Now the Apple SEC filings also show that Apple has 4 billion USD in cash,
so they aren't going to disappear tomorrow - but the figures do show that
Apple is slipping in terms of new unit sales.

Please do not flame me - I am not a Mac hater.

Regards,

Gavin Hubbard