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NPD: Macs represent 48% of US desktop retail revenue

November 26, 2009, 5:50 PM EST

According to NPD, Apple's Mac desktop computers accounted for nearly half of the United States' desktop retail revenue in October. The outfit said iMacs, Mac minis and Mac Pros represented 47.71% of the revenue from desktops at the retail level.

That figure is impressive when compared to previously recorded revenue shares. For instance, in October 2008 Mac desktops held about 33%. Apple's notebook business has also increased from 30% revenue share in April 2009 to 34% last month -- though that is still less than the 38% from a year ago. Conversely, Windows desktops and laptops held the remaining 52% and 66% of revenue share.

US Computer Revenue Data: October 2009

Computer	Retail Revenue Share	Average Selling Price
Windows Desktop	52%	$491
Mac Desktop	48%	$1,338
Windows Laptop	66%	$519
Mac Laptop	34%	$1,410

Some of Apple's gain can be attributed with the release of its updated iMacs during the same period that Windows PC sales fell ahead of Windows 7's October 22 launch, said NPD's vice president of industry analysis, Stephen Baker. He added, "While those are great numbers, that's probably not sustainable."

That said, even with a 40% revenue share, Apple would be well ahead of any single company selling Windows PCs.

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peroucho8 on November 26, 2009 7:02 PM	it's impressive ! also there is a huge difference in the average selling price ! Reply \| Quote
saintbodhisatva on November 26, 2009 7:02 PM	That said, even with a 40% revenue share, Apple would be well ahead of any single company selling Windows PCs. Apple really is #1 then. Reply \| Quote
flukeh on November 26, 2009 7:19 PM	saintbodhisatva said: That said, even with a 40% revenue share, Apple would be well ahead of any single company selling Windows PCs. 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 Reply \| Quote
saintbodhisatva on November 26, 2009 7:59 PM	flukeh said: saintbodhisatva said: That said, even with a 40% revenue share, Apple would be well ahead of any single company selling Windows PCs. 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? Reply \| Quote
ColdPreacher on November 26, 2009 8:00 PM	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. Reply \| Quote
Guest on November 26, 2009 8:14 PM	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... Reply \| Quote
mopar man on November 26, 2009 9:19 PM	I agree with the Guest above. They are nowhere near passing Microsoft in means of sheer number of computers sold, either. Reply \| Quote
bedouinrising on November 26, 2009 9:19 PM	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 Reply \| Quote
fada on November 26, 2009 9:48 PM	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! Reply \| Quote
matchu on November 26, 2009 10:13 PM	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.... Reply \| Quote
Adhmuz on November 26, 2009 10:43 PM	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. Reply \| Quote
lfg18 on November 26, 2009 11:23 PM	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 Reply \| Quote
mattfrompa on November 26, 2009 11:42 PM	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. Reply \| Quote
levar on November 26, 2009 11:44 PM	lfg18 said: 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 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. Reply \| Quote
Adhmuz on November 27, 2009 12:17 AM	levar said: lfg18 said: 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 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... Reply \| Quote
freedomthinker on November 27, 2009 12:19 AM	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 Reply \| Quote
codefeenix on November 27, 2009 12:33 AM	the iphone is the only apple product i would consider buying. apple PC's are not a good value for the money. Reply \| Quote
Puiu on November 27, 2009 1:12 AM	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. Reply \| Quote
Guest on November 27, 2009 1:16 AM	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. Reply \| Quote
Guest on November 27, 2009 2:07 AM	I wounder how much did apple paid NPD for this research C’mon judging by revenue isn’t even serious Why don’t they research quantity? Mac is just a ripoff, it have no future windows is wide spread, have huge program base, and virtualy its free Linux is free Chrome is cloud based, good for netbook crap, free again and mac have nothing of above but cost 3 times more, you should be really dumb to buy it Reply \| Quote
razerblade on November 27, 2009 2:20 AM	Wow i cannot believe the difference in average price. I knew it was quite a lot but I didn't realise it was almost 3 times the amount! Im shocked that they even managed to make that percentage of revenue. However, how try can these figures be? I think the figures will soon change with windows 7 now available. Reply \| Quote
xclusiveitalian on November 27, 2009 2:38 AM	I'm impressed selling an overpriced OS/desktops/laptops there making a lot of money, however, it's there marketing that is selling there products and not there actual products. Lies like that Macs don't crash and just work and don't have any viruses are making a lot of PC's users switch over to the pricey mac, little do they realize the lies in those ads. Do you remember a few months ago on the news section here mac was upset with windows ads on television and got them to change it, yet everyday I see mac rip directly on windows. lol Funny thing about those commercials, the guy in the business suit is more like a mac since every single mac looks the same, plain white or black, same design, while PCs are more like a t shirt and jeans. lol Reply \| Quote
slh28 on November 27, 2009 3:56 AM	I'm guessing one of the reasons why Appl€ has almost a 50% revenue share is because of the Appl€ fanboys constantly buying new computers. For a PC user, if you want to play the latest games/make your computer faster you can just upgrade your video card/CPU. However if you're a Mac owner you'll probably gonna have to fork out money for a whole new system. I own an iPhone because it's easily the best phone out there (especially when JB'ed ) and in my opinion it is worth the premium. However for the selling price of an average C2D Mac I could build a very nice i7 PC with a latest graphics card and HD monitor. Reply \| Quote
Nirkon on November 27, 2009 4:39 AM	saintbodhisatva said: That said, even with a 40% revenue share, Apple would be well ahead of any single company selling Windows PCs. Apple really is #1 then. Prices are still too high to become mainstream like PCs in my opinion... look the average selling point is almost 3 times as much! Reply \| Quote
BMfan on November 27, 2009 5:38 AM	Can someone please explain why is a mac worth almost 3x more,plz don't say because its not windows,then you haven't tried 7. Reply \| Quote