*blink*
Apple announced earnings tonight.
2.1M Macs sold this past quarter.
According to this here article at the NY Times yesterday, "Gartner forecast that Apple would grow more than 37 percent based on expected shipments of 1.3 million computers, for an 8.1 percent share of the domestic market."
Let's adjust, assuming Gartner's estimate of total sales is accurate...
8.1% = 1.3M/X
X = 16.05M
2.1/16.05M = 13.1%
...
Wow. They broke 10%, and handily. I've said for years, that I'd be thrilled if Apple had 10% of the US market, and stayed there. Now, 20% doesn't look out of the realm of reason. Dayum.
Take out massitude bottom-budget cubicle-filling PC orders, and... that's a serious chunk of the consumer market.
Just, wow.
Edit: If today's after-hours nearly 7% boost to AAPL holds, when the market opens in the morning, Apple will have a larger market cap than IBM or Intel.
Jeebus.
2.1M Macs sold this past quarter.
According to this here article at the NY Times yesterday, "Gartner forecast that Apple would grow more than 37 percent based on expected shipments of 1.3 million computers, for an 8.1 percent share of the domestic market."
Let's adjust, assuming Gartner's estimate of total sales is accurate...
8.1% = 1.3M/X
X = 16.05M
2.1/16.05M = 13.1%
...
Wow. They broke 10%, and handily. I've said for years, that I'd be thrilled if Apple had 10% of the US market, and stayed there. Now, 20% doesn't look out of the realm of reason. Dayum.
Take out massitude bottom-budget cubicle-filling PC orders, and... that's a serious chunk of the consumer market.
Just, wow.
Edit: If today's after-hours nearly 7% boost to AAPL holds, when the market opens in the morning, Apple will have a larger market cap than IBM or Intel.
Jeebus.

no subject
I'm actually waiting for total PC sales to start leveling off--it has been several years since hardware performance increases actually translated into an improved ability for Joe User to get his job done. Looks like Vista's insane hardware requirements prevented that from happening this year, but I bet it happens in the next couple, once everyone who *needs* Vista has it.
no subject
You seriously underestimate the ability of OS manufacturers (one in particular) to add wasted cycles, don't you? :D Agreed though, that for most users the current trend of "Oh look! Another toolbar!" is a pretty pathetic waste of the hardware. If we've got cycles to spare, they should be used for, oh, I dunno... constantly making incremental backups? Observing work patterns and creating live workspaces? Something *useful*?
Actually, I suspect that it will level off, in that gaming consoles have seriously intruded into the traditional high-end PC gaming realm, and it's that high-end gamer niche market that has driven a lot of the hardware churn for the past decade. As those folks are split between the insane-in-the-game PC group and the consolers, that niche is going to get even smaller. Heck, it's been proportionally shrinking for a while now, but I think it will accelerate.
Which means... who's left to drive HW needs? What segment of the general computing population will break out to be the next big group of whiners? :)
no subject
No, I just think it's going to be another 3-5 years before there's another Windows client to up the HW bar yet again at the OS level.
Hell, the 360 and PS3 might even be near the top end of what the software manufacturers want to deliver, polygon- and framerate-wise. (Based on no evidence, I grant, but once you're approaching photorealism at 60 fps, who cares anymore?)