NPD: Macs represent 48% of US desktop retail revenue

it's impressive ! also there is a huge difference in the average selling price !

Apple really is #1 then.

Number one in revenue maybe.... But the amount of PC's to macs around/avaliable would look more like a 2:1 ratio

That's true. I wonder where Psystar falls in the mix though. Are they Considered Apple desktops?

Amazing, even with there products costing 3 times more they still have the revenue and growing. If the numbers stay true wont be to long till they pass microsoft.

Guys, passing Microsoft is not anywhere in Apple's near future. Think about the OS market share for a minute: Apple is hoovering just around 6% overall (excluding mobile OS, which lands them past 9% I believe).

Just think about it...

I agree with the Guest above. They are nowhere near passing Microsoft in means of sheer number of computers sold, either.

Windows computers generally last longer (when it comes to desktops) - this is probably why Apple has such a high retail - Macs are being replaced often

Apple is one of the worlds biggest companies in terms of market cap, up there with google, and worth more than microsoft!
Dell and HP pale in comparison to Apple's market value, they are a luxury item that are seeminlgy immune to market forces, i suspect some kind of witch craft, possibly even voodoo at play here, maybe steve jobs is a memebr of some kind of satanic cult?
just food for thought there people!

I find it hard to believe that so many people are willing to pay so much for something that isn't that much better than your average PC....

The key in this is the average price, for both desktops and laptops its almost triple the average sale price. What they should also put in there is price over performance, I know it would be a very different story. I'm not saying Apples aren't good value, I'm just saying... wait, no, thats exactly what I'm saying.

Wow, I never thought that apple computers were that spreed, I thought they had around 10% of the market, Personally I think macs are overpriced, i know they look pretty and everything but I am not pretty sure if they are worth it

Apple, we squeeze more out of our customers than anyone else! With that said, this is surely a wet dream of any businessman, as of course the goal of any business is to generate revenue. In my personal experience I can attest that with Apple a consumer is met with the "it's smarter to buy a new one than get this fixed or upgraded" dilemma far more often than with a reputable PC. I believe this situation must have at least some impact on their sky high revenue.

Yeah its overpriced, look on the bright side practically no viruses thats no money to spend on anti-virus software. Thats it, and it can practically do everything a windows PC can do apart from playing PC games.

I don't spend money on anti virus software...

Seriously compared to the PC , in pricing , this is complete nonsense the prices are tripled . Its no surprise to me anymore though , even here in Lithuania this Apple stuff is getting popular, when i asked just for the fun of it whats so special in a Mac Book or the Iphone , everybody looked at me as i was from the moon or something I know these things are great like the Iphone , nifty little gadget , but the macbook ? My PC can everything a Mac can do , but since my PC is absolute crap , im not gonna compare

the iphone is the only apple product i would consider buying.
apple PC's are not a good value for the money.

Don't you guys know? The more expensive it is the more people will buy it! I just don't know what people see in Macs besides the fact that there are fewer viruses developed for it. It has crappy hardware, crappy software support and crappy games (if any at all).
I'm sure that in 10 years from now Mac won't be doing so well if they continue like this. I already see a big decline in sales for apple next year.

Not to mention that these sales don't account PCs that are actually built by the half-way tech competent; unjustly inflating Apple's numbers.

Albeit, that's probably a smaller percentage of sales, but probably a much larger price-per-unit cost, since the builder is more likely to be an enthusiast.

Apples are laughably overpriced, especially given the 'average' person's usage.

When you spend 1,400 on a Macbook or one of their terrible desktops so you can browse the internet, use word processing and maybe, just maybe, make a powerpoint presentation...

Well, lets just say that Apple's TV ads only target a very unimpressive audience.

Also, this absolutely cracks me up:

"Yeah its overpriced, look on the bright side practically no viruses thats no money to spend on anti-virus software. Thats it, and it can practically do everything a windows PC can do apart from playing PC games."

Virus are only a problem to the most inept computer users; not to mention Apple isn't "protected" from viruses, they're just such a laughably small market share that they avoid them by virtue of being insignificant. You can also get quality virus protection on the PC, if you so deem it necessary, for free anyhow.

And, if you're spending over a thousand dollars on a computer, it damn well better be low-high-end gaming rig... so yeah, not playing games while blowing over 1,000 dollars on a computer is absurd. The exception being various processor and graphics intensive modeling work and the like... which again, you'd be much better off building a significantly better rig for the price.

Bleh. I can't stand Apple's success at marketing to the ignorant with a bit of money.