Apple corporate laptop sales set to increase despite Windows 7 debut

Apple laptop sales hit a new high in planned corporate sales in November, despite the release of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, a new survey has found.

ChangeWave's latest corporate IT spending survey shows that 10 percent of companies plan to buy a Mac-branded laptop in the first quarter of 2010. That's a new high for Apple, up from the 9 percent total hit in August.

"To date, Windows 7 does not appear to be hurting Appleâ€™s corporate Mac sales," the study said. "Rather, planned Mac buying has hit a new high in the latest survey."

In addition, 7 percent of respondents said they intend to buy a Mac desktop in the first quarter of 2010. That share has been static for most of 2009.

Interestingly, Mac desktop sales did not budge in the corporate world despite the introduction of the new iMac and business-oriented Mac mini server in October. In overall sales, the iMac was the top-selling desktop in October, and it, along with the new Mac minis, helped Apple's overall desktop sales to increase 74 percent year over year.

The corporate study came from the ChangeWave Alliance Research Network, a group of 25,000 business, technology and medical professionals who are said to work in leading companies of select industries. It surveyed a total of 1,753 corporate buyers.

Overall, the survey found a projected uptick in IT sales for the first quarter of 2010. 73 percent of respondents said they plan to buy a laptop to start the year, while 69 percent will invest in new desktops. Those levels are the highest they have been since February 2008.

Nearly one in five upgraders (19 percent) are doing so because of the release of Windows 7. Microsoft's latest operating system debuted in October, and was met with positive reviews. Apple beat Microsoft to market with the launch of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in August, which earned its own accolades as well.

The survey also found high user satisfaction with Windows 7. More than a third — 37 percent — said their company is very satisfied with the product, while 56 percent said they are somewhat satisfied. Only 4 percent were somewhat unsatisfied, and 3 percent very unsatisfied with Windows 7.

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65 Comments

oc4theo

said about 14 years ago

Only actual sales numbers will give an insight of how Apple is doing against the PC market. Surveys can't be trusted or relied upon.

djrumpy

said about 14 years ago

Our own company matches this foray into everything Mac to a tee. We've opened up our infrastructure to iPhones, and we're looking at expanding support for Mac's in general.

Looks to be another good year for Apple.

MacPro

said about 14 years ago

I have to use 7 as well as Mac and my impression of 7 is it isn't as bad as XP and far better than Vista ... not exactly anything to get excited about for sure. On the other hand listening to recent switchers rave about their new Macs is. There will be an exponential growth of Macs I am sure simply due to word of mouth by switchers. They are by far Apple's greatest sales asset.

mactripper

said about 14 years ago

Quote:

First off, the iMac is not a business oriented computer. It's a 'all in one' / 'all can fail at once' type device that has no place in the general business market when cheaper and part replaceable towers are easily available from PC vendors. One can't even swap out the hard drive in iMac's! Stupid!!!Second the Mac Mini server is a hobbyist device, it's a MacBook in a desktop form factor. It's not a server in the sense of a rack mounted server. ANY Mac can be a server for that matter.

I suspect since the Intel switch that Apple's X-Server sales have fallen off a cliff and headed for extinction, so they are trying to do something, explore the hobbyist market I guess, the X-RAID is already GONE!

Enterprise buy servers based upon the processors and other hardware features for the price, not for the OS they are going to slap on it later. Since Intel based servers can be had from nearly anyone, they don't need Apple's, and they certainly don't need Apple's OS X controlling the hardware blinking lights and other candy features if they intend to run Linux, Unix or something else.

When Apple had the powerful PPC X-Servers and Pro Towers, they did sell like hotcakes and even made the third largest supercomputer in the world at VirginaTech. Now Apple has been bitch slapped into the consumer market for good, the processor wars are over.The increase in MacMini and iMac's went to consumers by far. This article is part propaganda, certainly misinformation.

The truth comes out in the last lines:

Quote:

The survey also found high user satisfaction with Windows 7. More than a third -- 37 percent -- said their company is very satisfied with the product, while 56 percent said they are somewhat satisfied. Only 4 percent were somewhat unsatisfied, and 3 percent very unsatisfied with Windows 7.

So that's a combined 37+56= 93% for Windows 7 and a 7% for something other than Windows 7.

I said long ago that all Microsoft has to do is make their OS better and more secure and OS X will hit the toilet.

Sure Windows 7 still needs anti-virus, but unless a flood of malware errupts and people begin to curse Microsoft again, it's going to crown out OS X in market share eventually.

I think Apple is banking on a new OS X UI for all future devices, a iPhone OS UI for iTablets and iTablet/hybid desktops.

Apple can do better in the business market for desktops if they give them what they already know, a expandable below $1000 priced tower.