Mac's market share growth is “nothing short of spectacular,” suggests analyst
Apple has been on a tear of late, but it's not just a story of iPods. Indeed, web analyst Net Applications now puts the Mac's market share at 8%, up from 5.3% in early 2007. That is stunning growth by any measure …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Mac's web-measured climb has been running all year: Net Applications data showed Mac share of surfers doubling in eight months by May 2007, and AppleInsider separately put U.S. Mac share at 8.1% for Q3 2007. An Investor's Business Daily piece in December flagged the gain before it landed, so today's 8%-from-5.3% reading confirms a trend the trade press had already been tracking.
What makes this reading matter is that it is measured on the web rather than in unit shipments, and it arrives days after a survey put Mac OS at a record 7.3% December share with iPhone usage up 33% (the same tracker's December read) — consistent signals that iPod-to-Mac switching, not any single product, is doing the work.
First-order effects
- Windows-centric software vendors now face a fast-growing Mac installed base that has roughly doubled its web footprint within a year, raising the cost of not shipping native Mac versions.
- Apple enters the January 15 Macworld keynote with measurable share momentum, strengthening the halo argument around iPod and iPhone buyers moving to Macs ahead of rumored new-product announcements.
Second-order effects
- PC rivals competing on price against a premium-priced Mac lose ground in the higher-margin segments where switchers cluster, forcing them to respond with design and bundled-software differentiation rather than discounts alone.
- Web analytics firms like Net Applications gain commercial weight as their browser-and-OS measurements become the de facto scoreboard analysts cite, shaping developer prioritization decisions.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, platform share measured on the live web becomes a leading indicator that developers and advertisers follow ahead of shipment data, gradually shifting where third-party software investment lands first.
- Sustained Mac growth points toward a more two-horse consumer OS market, with Apple's hardware-plus-software model proving it can take share without competing at the low end.
The trend: Consumer computing share is being re-scored through live web measurement, and Apple's Mac gains show the iPod-iPhone halo converting into durable platform share.