Apple's Mac sales slide three per cent

I'm not a Apple user, but it doesn't take a genius to see that Apple should hold on to what is likely the highest margin in the industry. In this recession, showing only a 3% drop is a sign of a pretty good company, it's certainly better than their competitors. A 10% reduction in their prices would drop their profit on Macs by a third. How would that be an appropriate response to a 3% sales drop?

Apple is sitting on a load of cash, makes a great margin, and is very profitable. Still, a bunch of tech geeks think they know how Apple should be running their business. Some thing is wrong there, but it isn't Apple's strategy.

Never have I witnessed one man exert so much energy, wishing so much ill will, upon a single target, to so little actual effect. Every sodding time I come to this website, hoping to read about something interesting, there's a bloody Farrell article sitting right there at the top of the list, like glue. Each day brings a fresh onslaught of vaguely-researched, vitriolic bile and wild invention, such as would make the people who work in Gordon Brown's office blush.

And, taken in the whole, what has all this turgid prose amounted to? Little less than the biggest bucket of fail in journalistic history. Years and months pass, in which he attempts to write a reality, that he wishes to live in, into existence, and month by month, he gets it wrong. So many gloating, gleeful words, written about events that never actually come to pass.

Farrell, put down the bloody voodoo doll (it looks nothing like Steve Jobs, anyway: are you sure it's not meant to be Larry Ellison?) Noel Edmonds has a much better religeon for people like you (or, failing that, he may have a vacancy going for the next Mr Blobby!)

‘So how is a three per cent sales slump reported as the "best ever quarter for Apple" and "proof that users are choosing "quality over price"?’

Could it be because, with record earnings, Apple is crying all the way to the bank?

James,

Wherever did you get the notion that Apple has a 30% margin?

A 10% price cut would not touch 30% of Mac profits.

Apple is over 50% profit on their Mac line. Some Apple products are marked up to 300% of cost.

Apple is very good at taking peoples money and being thanked for it.

Don't underestimate them.

Reading Nick's followup comment of

"Don't underestimate [Apple]."

just made my day.

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/16757

Mac sales may have fell 3%, but the computer industry as a whole saw PC sales fall 7% in the quarter ending in March. So Mac sales may have declined by they still beat the industry as a whole.

In regards to iPhone vs. Blackberry, it's probably also worthwhile to also mention iPod Touch sales since it's essentially the same platform. Overall combined user base for iPhone and iPod Touch increased from 30 million last quarter to 37 million this quarter. 37 million sales of the combined iPhone/iPod Touch platform is impressive in less than 2 years is impressive considering Microsoft just announced that they reached 50 million Windows Mobile devices and it's been around since 2003.

http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-mwc-we-learned-just-how-great-of-a-partner-htc-is-to-microsoft/

Must be a slow news day huh? 3% drop in a NON-holiday quarter is pretty damn good! Last quarter was thanksgiving and xmas dur dur... I'd say you're comparing apples to oranges.

<<<must

Its Nick. If it was Dell sliding 3 percent he would be applauding Michael Dell and the Dell kid for their fantastic product and genius marketing strategy. It's Mac, which he hates.

So Nick I am still waiting for you to write something positive about Mac. Until then, enjoy your excessive memory leaks in Windows or the lack (non-existent maybe) support for Linux. Don't cry, its just the truth.

I don't normally post on this site (or el reg) I normally just spend my time enjoying the read but yesterdays article about Apple did make me laugh harder than normal and today with Apple's financial posting and this article above I nearly shat myself!

I can't understand why people enjoy bobbing on Apple so much and I also can't understand why so many 'journos' fail to understand why they [Apple] are so successful.

As a consumer (I'm a reet nerd also but I am a consumer first and foremost) I look at Apple and see it as a brand that delivers products that I either will buy or want to buy. This in any market is a VERY powerful combo and to assume just because something is expensive relative to the market it's in and that it won't sell is stooopid to the n'th degree. The most successful car company in the world is Porsche and yet by Nick's take on this kind of company they too should be shitting it. Not so.

Quality (real or perceived) combined with tangible user appreciation and benefits will always help ensure a product has a market.

Can't wait for the next article announcing that the iPhone is a white elephant and that they should just cut thier losses.

More of the same please - saves me going to the Onion for a laugh...

PC sales down 7% while apple only 3%? yeah thats like saying PC sold a gazillion less 7% and apple sold 103 macs less 3%??? Its not even the same ball game. More like comparing UFC and ballet (very similar when they are groping each other but otherwise not)

And the guy with the ithingy touch - its not a PHONE! man. read the article b4.

'James,
Wherever did you get the notion that Apple has a 30% margin?
A 10% price cut would not touch 30% of Mac profits.
Apple is over 50% profit on their Mac line. Some Apple products are marked up to 300% of cost.
Apple is very good at taking peoples money and being thanked for it.
Don't underestimate them.
Nick'

Erm, they state their gross margins in their quarterly results. I'm quite surprised the amount that you write about Apple that you hadn't actually figured that out yet. To quote Apple's press release: 'Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.'

Although I don't think I should be doing your work for you, you can see here: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/04/22results.html

First Fudo bails. Then the sites founder jumps ship to his own blog. And all the poor Inq has to show now are the likes of Nick Ferret.

Good reporters admit they were wrong. Bad reporters change the subject or obfuscate to draw attention away from their failures.

This has to be the most disingenuous column that I've read in some time. I'm through with the Inquirer. The Register will get my mouse clicks exclusively from now on.

Wow just when you think he can't get any shallower, Nick manages to drain a little more out of the puddle that is his journalistic integrity.

So now we are to believe, Nick "don't call me an analyst" was merely passing on other people's #'s. I suggest folks re-read his previous article (assuming of course he has not edited it) - he indicated that the 5% projected drop matched "our" predictions ('our' being Nick and the various voices in his head telling him to hate Apple).

It's one thing to be a ridiculous fanboy with a blog... it's another to be posing as a writer. And it's still another for the editors on this site to just turn a blind eye and show even less inetgrity by printing this crap.

INQ, I have enjoyed your articles and some of the 'edginess' for years... but I'm done with this site thanks in large part to crap like this.

I'm simply shocked at the scathing comments written above in defence of Apple by an a priori attack against the author. You people should feel shame for this lack of analystic form.

The figures speak for themselves. 3% isn't a major fall, but it is a fall. If this continues, and odds are it will, then there's the possibility of Apple losing market share. Of course, it's all relative to its loss compared to the overall computer market. If its proportional share of this market contracts more than the rest, then it's going to lose share in the short-term. The real problem then is how to spin the situation into a win for investors in Apple, as Apple could lose a lot this way if these people get jittery about its performance.

Also, the tenacity of Apple zealots to just claim the figures are wrong or being misinterpreted shows solid arrogance. Why would you question that Apple's sales would shrink in a bloody recession? Do they believe that they're smarter or better with numbers just because they use a Mac? Do they believe it makes them "smarter" than the realists who question rather than automatically accept everything that Apple & Steve Jobs claim?

And for those of you who don't enjoy reading The Inquirer and want to throw your proverbial toys of the pram everytime you don't agree with a writer, grow up or get out. I don't agree with everything here, but I can argue sensibly with the writers without resorting to your level of mediocre debating skills.

They attack the messenger of the news rather than deal with the content. Farrell has done his job reporting people who are opposed to Apple. However it seems the fan boys believe he should be printing press releases from the Apple press office like the rest of the IT press. Jobs has been caught here lying about selling mroe phones than RIM why the hell should we believe him?

It's hard to argue with a company who, in THIS economy, has only suffered a 3% drop in sales, has 25 billion in the bank, and no debt. That's success. Some of us may not like the high price of entry into this exclusive club, but if I was rich, I would certainly buy a Mac.

Erm, I seem to remember that it was claimed apple outsold RIM and as this article mentions, they did for a quarter or two. I don't think they ever said they were outselling RIM, now and forever more. Who would ever make such a ridiculous claim? This article is just pure anti apple spin.

True: minor drop in Mac sales (so what).

False: Your contention that iPhone sales did not meet market forecast is way off. Apple vastly exceeded the analysts projections for iPhone sales. Gross margins also went UP and it was a record (gross & profit) for a non-holiday quarter.

If you are going to do sarcasm, you should not make it look like ignorance.

Jobs did... have a look at the link. It was also published all over the show before the Washington Post checked the facts

Nick,
I think you must be a refugee from Bears-Stern based on you NEGATIVE take of Apples earnings report. Some of the other financial analysts were quite positive about Apple's earning report....

"No analyst we know of correctly predicted Apple’s (AAPL) second fiscal quarter results for 2009, in which the company proved that computer makers don’t have to slash prices or build 'junky' $400 netbooks to weather an economic storm. But some analysts did better than others,"

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/04/23/apples-q2-analyzing-the-analysts/

I must admit I hadn't looked at the link - the statement just seemed too daft to even warrant it. Since you contested it though, I went and had a look. Unless I'm blind, there is no such statement. Please, when quoting articles around, do make sure they contain the information you are quoting. The nearest I could see was this quote from jobs: “Apple outsold RIM last quarter. This is a milestone,”

Now, please, where exactly did they say they were now selling more than RIM, now and forever more?! Seriously.

Remember this is a 3% loss in Mac sales only, All other areas Apple are doing much better.

3% growth in iPod sales.
3% loss in Mac sales.
123% growth in iPhone sales.

“Apple outsold RIM last quarter." No they didn't

robin, you sir/mame, are an idiot!

Excuse me?! What the hell are you talking about? If you read the whole tread of comments you would understand the context of my comment and the quote. That's not to mention that the quote was referring to a couple of quarters ago when the iPhone did outsell RIM. May I point you, as 'Linux cultist' so cleverly did, to the articles in question. It doesn't get over the fact that what I was saying is correct - that no one, after outselling the competition for one or two quarters, would EVER say they are going to outsell them forever more. This is a ludicrous suggestion and is plainly false.

In response to your very delicate and considered last line: You Sir, are a truly foolish man (I assume) and rather unpleasant at that. I suggest you check your facts before insulting someone.

I thought this was said Q2/09.

I take back my "idiot" remark back and put myself squarety behide it.

I apollogize.

And these fools will tell us that they are not being ripped off, even though they make up a tiny % of the market and Apple have $25bil cash in the bank.

OMG just how much have they ripped off their fools, I mean customers?

I wish I had a bunch of fools handing me money for overpriced but "shiney" stuff. Actually I don't, I would feel ashamed at taking money from the naive. Luckily for them Jobs is happy to rip them off!

Over here the cheapest iMac 20" costs 1200 dollars U.S.

1200$ for a laptop disguised as an all in one desktop that can't be upgraded over time is not an attractive product.

Shonky single carrier Iphones is dodgier than a Leeds 'its turnip not chicken' korma purchased after 2am on a Saturday from a swarthy Mac down by the river Aire. Loik comparin' Apple att Orange, innit?

I finally figured out how to find the real news in Nick's posts. Its pretty easy, they are all in qoutes. I have a rule, if someone has to go out of his way to tell you something its not true.
I imagine when he was younger he would post in forums pitting xbox vs ps2, and would get beat up in school anyway.
You trully lead a sad life nick and I trully feel sorry for you. I think you need theorpy. This much hate cannot be natural.

Apologies accepted. Perhaps you aren't so pleasant after all, if a little foolish :-)

haha typo of terrible proportions. Should have read 'Perhaps you aren't so UNpleasant after all...'

I guess we are all a little foolish at times.

Everything crApple product that sells to them will be bought even the prices of Mac mini rises to 1000 dollar.

all i see is unit sale number, what about net sale number in dollars?

The ugly truth is QoQ 2009 vs 2008 in terms of net sale Mac Desktop drops a whopping 22%, Mac portable drops 12% and Ipod drops 8%. You can see them yourself in Apple's quarterly report.

Now we understand why Cupertino likes the unit sale figure.

To all that think Apples profit margin is too high just look at your wardrobes, every item of clothing regardless of brand has a 50-90% profit margin on it. Things like a £70 M&S suite jacket are produced to i admit a very high and exacting spec but it only cos $9.13 to make(2006).
In the computer world we have had a issue where all the PC makers tried to hit the mythical sub £1000 computer and then trapped themselves into making cheeper and cheeper and a lot of them died because turing a profit became impossible.
Now we are at the state were we have a over saturated market and not much money being made except for Apple.
If i was a share holder in the likes of Dell i would be wondering why he have 200 models that compete with each other and why we only earn $5 a computer when we could be getting a sweet 30-50% profit = more R&D and more share holders money and less chance of the company going belly up.

I'm not a snob but I would not even allow myself to be buried at sea wearing a M&S suit jacket......I really would die first.

I would certainly suggest that death is preferable before burial at sea is undertaken!

I laughed a long time after reading that!

I think Mac fanboi's just sit at their desks googling all day for anti-mac articles so they can post and defend there dying master.

Attention macboys...apple has gained a 2% gain in the over all computer sales in....15 years....

obviously they are doing something wrong...they should can the mac line...and stick with making idiot proof software and gadgets.

Quote: "Yesterday Marshall said that the future of Apple is looking bleak, and he predicted that Apple's next quarter will see a fall of 12 per cent in Mac sales. He could be right."

Two quarters later both Marshall and the author Nick Farrell have been proven dead wrong. Apple produces another record quarter for Mac sales. Interesting to note that Apple revenues are going up while Microsoft's revenues continue to decline. Perhaps making "cheap" products results in a cheap experience and making "overpriced" PCs results in satisfied customers.