Apple snags 10 percent of U.S. retail notebook sales in March
Apple Inc.'s line of MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks combined for nearly 10 percent of all notebook sales at U.S.-based retail stores during the month of March, while sales of iMacs also helped the Mac maker rank amongst …
Context & Ripple Effects
With no iPhone on shelves yet, Apple's May 2007 retail numbers show the Mac business doing the heavy lifting: MacBook and MacBook Pro together took nearly 10 percent of all notebook sales at U.S.-based retail stores in March, and confirmed reporting adds that iMac strength pushed Apple into the ranks of leading U.S. retail computer sellers.
The demand signal shows up upstream of the register too — comScore measured Apple's website traffic jumping from 27.3 million to 38.8 million unique visitors between March and April, making apple.com the 13th most visited site in the country. Meanwhile, rumor chatter around a 13-inch ultra-portable sub-notebook and a modest MacBook refresh suggests Apple is positioning to widen the very lineup driving these retail gains.
First-order effects
- Apple's retail channel — its own stores and partner shelves — becomes a proven notebook volume outlet, with the MacBook line accounting for nearly one in ten U.S. retail notebooks sold in March.
- Windows-bound shoppers browsing apple.com at record levels (38.8 million April uniques per comScore) put Apple's marketing directly in front of a mainstream audience far beyond its installed base.
Second-order effects
- PC rivals competing on price and specs in the same retail aisles now face a premium-branded alternative taking visible shelf share, pressuring their retail merchandising and entry-level pricing.
- If the rumored 13-inch ultra-portable materializes, it would attack the thin-and-light segment from above the current MacBook line, forcing incumbents in that category to respond on design rather than discounts.
Third-order effects
- Sustained retail share gains point toward a PC market where brand pull through storefronts matters as much as component economics, rewarding vertically integrated players like Apple and squeezing commodity box-makers' margins.
- A devoted-user dynamic — which the reporting attributes to a cult-like following — compounds into structural advantage: each retail cohort of new Mac owners expands the base that word-of-mouth recruits from next quarter.
The trend: Consumer PC purchasing is migrating toward retail channels and design-led premium brands, with Apple converting store traffic and web reach into sustained share gains against commodity manufacturers.