Back-to-school sales and a refreshed desktop line may have pushed it over the edge
Source: Company reports
The iPad's been getting a lot more buzz lately, but Apple's (AAPL) computer line is still the company's No. 2 source of revenue (after the iPhone) -- a point likely to be driven home again when Apple reports its fiscal fourth quarter earnings next Monday.
How's the Mac doing? Unit sales, which stalled in Q2 as customers waited for the new MacBooks that arrived in April and May, took off in Q3, coming in just shy of 3.5 million.
Although Apple's competitors saw PC sales weaken this summer, all signs suggest that the Mac was the exception, driven by back-to-school sales and the new desktop models released in late July (not to mention store traffic from people coming in to buy iPhones and iPads).
The average Q4 unit sales estimate of the 31 analysts we've polled is 3.84 million Macs. Five of them, however, expect Apple to report that it sold 4 million or more.
Below: The estimates we've gathered so far. Per several readers' requests, we've included a measure of the accuracy of each analyst's previous estimates, using (where available) Daniel "Deagol" Tello's Q3 ranking system. See here.
Shortages of iMacs and Mac Pros signaled long overdue product updates
[UPDATE: Apple, as expected, released new iMacs and Mac Pros Tuesday. The iMacs start at $1,199. The Pros start at $2,499 and can be configured with up to 12 processing cores. Press releases, with specs, here and here.
There's also a new $999 27-inch Cinema Display (specs) and a $69 wireless multi-touch trackpad accessory for desktop Macs.
Last -- and least MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 27, 2010 8:16 AM ET
The pressure is on Apple's CEO to surprise and amaze the tech world on Monday
Steve Jobs at WWDC '08. Photo: Apple Inc.
"You won't be disappointed," wrote Steve Jobs a few weeks ago in one of his cryptic -- and increasingly frequent -- e-mail pronouncements.
This one was in response to a fan concerned that Apple's (AAPL) Worldwide Developers Conference, which Jobs will kick off with a keynote address, had been MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 5, 2010 5:23 PM ET
Adding to the growing buzz -- some of which he helped create -- around a possible refresh of Apple's (AAPL) iMac line of desktop computers, Kaufman Bros.' Shaw Wu issued a report to clients Monday morning with the latest update from his supply chain sources.
Noting that AppleInsider reported Friday that Apple seems to be running short of iMacs, Wu makes the following bullet points:
Timing: "In our experience, when AAPL sends MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 2, 2009 11:39 AM ET
Where was the new iMac that Apple watchers expected Steve Jobs -- or rather, Phil Schiller -- to unveil at Macworld?
In a report to clients issued Monday, Kaufman Bros.' analyst Shaw Wu says it will be out before March, or June at the latest, and he offers three reasons that the refresh of Apple's best-selling desktop machine is running behind schedule. According to his latest supply chain checks:
Apple hasn't yet MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 26, 2009 1:30 PM ET
None of this is set in stone -- especially as long as Steve Jobs retains the prerogative to change his mind at the last minute -- but AppleInsider has posted the most definitive road map to date of Apple's (AAPL) fall product lineup.
Citing unnamed "people familiar with the situation," AppleInsider's Kasper Jade ticks off a schedule of release for a batch of new iPods, overhauled notebooks and refreshed iMacs, confirming MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 28, 2008 10:38 AM ET
MacRumors has issued an update of its immensely useful Buyer's Guide -- a consumer-oriented cheat sheet that tracks the update cycle of Apple's product line and offers informed opinions about whether you should go ahead buy that MacBook Pro you've been lusting after or wait for the next model. As MacRumors put it:
Apple updates their products in a very consistent manner. A Mac comes out at a certain price with MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 11, 2008 10:19 AM ET
What is it about Apple computers that makes them run so hot?
Complaints about overheating notebooks -- Apple doesn't call them laptops anymore for reasons that become obvious once you use them for a few minutes -- surfaced soon after the release of both the MacBook Pro in early 2006 and the MacBook later that spring.
Now the problem is the new MacBook Air. Despite assurances from Apple (AAPL) reps at MacWorld MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 13, 2008 2:40 PM ET
The Macworld Conference & Expo, Silicon Valley's largest technology trade show, opens Monday. But the moment everyone is waiting for comes Tuesday morning, when Steve Jobs makes his annual keynote address at San Francisco's Moscone Center.
Jobs has set a high bar for himself. At Macworld 2006, he introduced the first Intel (INTC)-based Macs -- sparking a burst of sales that nearly doubled Apple's (AAPL) market share from roughly MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 14, 2008 2:00 AM ET
Like the Oscars for the technical categories, which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out ahead of time rather than bog down the major Academy Award presentations, Apple (AAPL) is using this week to introduce new products that Steve Jobs feels aren't worthy of his keynote at Macworld next week.
Today it announced two of them:
A new Mac Pro, with two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, a MORE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Intel Corp | 26.73 | -0.43 | -1.58% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
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