Apple Grabs 91% Share of PCs Costing $1,000 or More

July 24th, 2009 at 4:39 PM - News by Bryan Chaffin

In June, Apple grabbed some 91% of all PCs sold that cost US$1,000 or more, according to data from NPD (as reported by BetaNews). That's an increase from 88% in May, and 66% during the first quarter of 2008, demonstrating a steady increase in performance in this, the most profitable sector of the computer business.

It also contrasts starkly to the broader market, where Apple holds some 8.7% market share in the most recent data from Gartner and NPD. While that percent is also on the rise, it shows the stark contrast of Apple's business versus the rest of the PC industry, and it also shows how fast and how much the over-$1,000 market for PCs has shrunk.

With netbooks and rush-to-the-bottom cheap laptop and desktop machines filling out the Windows-world and shrinking average selling prices (ASPs), the breakdown of those ASPs further demonstrates the way the PC market is separating into Apple and everyone else.

NPD's data shows the ASP for desktop PCs was $690 in June, and $703 for laptops -- laptops represent the lion's share of PC sales for Apple and the rest of the industry at this point in time. If you separate Macs and PCs, the Windows-based ASP shrinks to $515, while Apple's Mac ASP is...$1,400.

Desktop Windows PC ASP was $489, while Apple's desktop Mac ASP was $1,398. Separating out notebooks, the proud world of Windows saw an ASP of $520 while Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro ASP was $1,400.

On Wednesday, Barclay's Capital analyst Ben Reitzes told clients that Apple's performance was a demonstration that the company's business model was working, though other analysts have long criticized the company for not following in the footsteps of the competition pursuing the low end of the market.

Oh, and as a reminder, Apple posted a record quarter for June in terms of Mac unit sales, total revenue, and total profit. Microsoft posted a 17% decline in revenue and a 29% decline in profits.

Accordingly, we expect to see a spate of "Apple is doomed" articles from sources near and far.