KEY POINTS:
Apple's impressive profits lately have been well and truly boosted by Mac computer sales - this is quite a different picture to even a year ago, when Apple's success was driven mostly by buoyant iPod and iPhone sales.
Apple turned a $1.39 billion profit (figures in NZ dollars) for its fiscal second quarter in figures released in April. That accounts for 2.2 million Macs sold from January to March this year, helping drive sales of $9.91 billion for the strongest March quarter in Apple's history. To compare, Apple sold just 1.5 million Macs worldwide in the same period last year.
This means Apple's profit was up 36 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2007, with revenue rising 43 per cent.
Fully 1.43 million of those 2.2 million Macs sold last quarter were Apple portables, an increase of 61 per cent over the 2007 quarter. That's just over half of all Mac sales being those little white MacBooks beloved of students, aluminium MacBook Pros for us more serious MacTransients, and significant numbers of the expensive new MacBook Air.
Apple, with cheeky online ads that either entertain or infuriate, has been confidently chipping away at Windows-based system sales for some time, using the advantages of no viruses, integrated systems, handsome computers and considerable value for money. Crikey, you can even run windows right on Macs these days, anathema as that sounds to some true Apple fans.
Apple's latest figures are pretty amazing for a company that was on the verge of disaster just over ten years ago, but if you're wondering why you're starting to see a lot more Macs around here in New Zealand, Apple's percentages for Australasia are quite a lot higher than Apple's average internationally. The worldwide figures quoted above includes an impressive 202,000 Macs sold in Apple's Asia-Pacific division, which includes Australia and New Zealand. That's a 67 per cent increase on the same quarter last year, resulting in revenue of $777.4 million. Of all Apple's international divisions for which figures are available, Asia-Pacific demonstrably represents the strongest growth.
Individual Mac sales figures for New Zealand are hard to come by, although they have long formed a significant proportion of total Australasian sales. But if New Zealand follows the example of Portugal - which it has often mirrored over the last two years - it seems just a matter of time before Apple sets up 'Apple NZ' here, although Apple Australia will not comment on this.
- Mark Webster @ mac.nz
