Macs are selling at ever faster levels, with the seemingly recession-proof Apple gaining ground on new sales records, according to the NPD Group. And Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster thinks 2010 will be the “Year of the Mac”.
The latest NPD retail data shows Apple continued to enjoy strong Mac and iPod sales across the start of this year, with February figures revealing significant year-on-year growth.
Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster, tells us Februray Mac sales climbed 43 per cent for the month – and that’s after a January increase of 36 per cent. In all, Mac sales for the first two months of 2010 are up 39 per cent year-on-year.
This suggests Apple will achieve between 2.8 million and 2.9 million Mac sales in the March quarter, which is above Wall Street’s consensus of 2.7 million Macs.
iPod sales also beat the belt-tightening blues, these climbed 7 percent in the period, the first increase in sales in this category for over a year. Piper Jaffray’s Munster maintains an overweight rating on AAPL with a 12-month price target of $284.
Apple’s Mac sales are likely to continue to gain momentum on strength of today’s report from the Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA) which claims Macs are easier to manage in enterprise and business environments.
In a survey of 260 IT administrators in large U.S. companies running mixed Mac/PC networks, EDA found Macs were cheaper in six of seven computer management categories: troubleshooting, help desk calls, system configuration, user training and supporting infrastructure (servers, networks and printer).
Additional highlights:
– 65% of respondents said it costs less to troubleshoot Macs than PCs
– 19% said they spent the same on both computers
– 16% said they spent less to manage PCs than Macs
Will 2010 be the year of the Mac? Let us know in comments below.
Source: AppleInsider, Infoworld
