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Apple Market Data: Mac and iPod On the Rise, iPhone Sales Slow

Aviv — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:33:07 +0000

Reports regarding Apple’s overall sales have been making the rounds today. Morgan Stanley is issuing reports that iPhone sales have dropped significantly in the 4th quarter, while Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reports healthy rises in nearly everything but the iPhone.

According to a new survey published by Morgan Stanley, Apple sold 1.75 million iPhone in the United States last quarter alone. Compared to Morgan Stanley’s 3rd quarter numbers, which reflect 2.3 million iPhones being sold, this is a 24% drop in units actually being moved. Morgan Stanely reiterates that sales of Apple’s iPhone dropped sharply during the Christmas quarter, when compared to sales of the September quarter when the device was originally released.

In a parallel report, long time Apple analyst Gene Munster (based on data from from market research firm NPD) told clients that Apple’s Mac and iPod product lines saw a nearly 10% rise in sales in the 4th quarter. When compared to the previous November quarter, both product families seemed to bounce back for healthier than expected sales.

What this means is that Apple really needs to begin diversifying its iPhone line. By lowering the price of the current 8GB iPhone 3G, making way for some new high-end features in more expensive models and continuing their push with global positioning, the iPhone would most likely bounce back from sluggish sales. In this economy, Apple should be making the current models cheaper, while adding on to the top-line of the iPhone product family. The early adopters like us will continue to shell out full price for more advanced features and hardware, and by reducing the cost to consumers, the bottom line benefits in turn.

Callers Prefer Apple’s Customer Service Above All Else

Aviv — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:24:09 +0000

Apple’s customer service has outclassed offerings from their competitors based on data released by VocaLabs.

VocaLabs is the company that gets hired by other companies to call customers after they’ve been helped by representatives and ask them how it went. They ask all of the typical questions such as, “were we helpful?” and “did you get your answer fast?” when rating your experience.

As The Consumerist explains, when compared to its competitors, Apple continues to hold on to a top spot based on customer service. Based on VocaLabs information, 60% of Apple customers were “very satisfied” with their service, Dell customers only 44%, Gateway customers only 37% and their was not enough information about Toshiba and HP for them to the relevant to the survey.

The survey does count on a small number of people, as Ars points out only 159 Apple callers were evaluated, and less than 50 callers were asked for ratings for two of the companies. While not a statistically credible survey, Apple’s customer service has always ranked towards the top of the list.

Study Shows New MacBooks to Take Healthy Percentage of Holiday Sales

Christina — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:09:36 +0000

According to electronista, Apple’s recent MacBook lineup and the iPhone may make it one of the better positioned companies to survive a likely steep drop in spending during the holidays.

Initially reported by ChangeWave, the study shows that a full third of all studied US notebook buyers, or 33%, plan to buy some form of Apple notebook during the season or within the next 90 days from the start of November. This study indicates a slight increase from 29% in September and places Apple’s demand on par with Dell. Additionally, it shows that the demand may also favor Apple’s higher end notebooks, including the MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro with about 23% out of the 33% skewing towards the pricier laptops.

Unfortunately, Apple projected desktop sales continue to trail behind that of competitor Dell. Most of the respondents tell ChangeWave that the Dell systems’ cost is the primary factor and that Dell represents “great value.”

Naturally, Apple continues to lead in portable device demand with the iPhone and has positioned itself to outperform RIM based on early ChangeWave polling. Portable media players also see Apple continuing to be unopposed, even with most of the overall group having no intention to buy (probably because they already have one, or many.)

In conclusion, the net gain for Apple is expected by ChangeWave to be critical for the winter. 59% of all study members say they plan on spending less in the next 90 days regardless of the onslaught of the holiday season. Lets hope the remaining 41% plan on stopping at the Apple store for stocking stuffers, or the soon-to-be-released new MacBook Air for the dearest loved one.

Update: I’m talking about the built-to-order Macbook Air that’s been delayed until after Thanksgiving.

Apple Surveying Retail Store Visitors Through Medallia

Aviv — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:22:11 +0000

Apple has contracted a company called Medallia to run surveys gathering feedback from recent retail store visitors. Through emails Apple is asking visitors to take a brief survey, answer a few questions and explain there recent experience.

If you’ve recently visited an Apple Retail Store and given an employee your email address for any reason, you may have received an email asking for your feedback. Apple has begun surveying retail shoppers through a company called Medallia, which specializes in enterprise level feedback, monitoring and surveying solutions that enable companies to gather, monitor, and act on feedback from customers, partners, and employees.

Apple has contracted Medallia, an independent marketing research firm, to conduct this survey. Your responses will remain strictly confidential. You received this email because you provided your email address to Apple. If you do not wish to participate, you are not obligated to do so.

In some case, Apple’s policy is to leave surveys open for 5 days to help ensure the experience was recent when taking our survey. If you’d like to receive emails like this from Apple, you can sign up here. Alternatively, if you’d like to take this survey, get started by clicking here.

Thank you to reader TB for sending this in.

Apple Sees Recent Surge in iPhone’s Web Share

Dave — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:29:11 +0000

According to recent figures, Apple’s coveted iPhone 3G has seen a surge in its global web share.

In a report gathered by web analytics company, Net Applications, the figures show that in June of 2008, one month before the launch of the iPhone 3G, the first generation iPhone held about a 0.16 % share of the operating system market. The following month, the iPhone held a position at 0.19%, a small increase, but an increase nonetheless.

However by September 1, the iPhone has nabbed up a 0.3% slice of the global Operating System market. While this would seem minuscule on the surface, that equates to a 58% increase over the span of only one month, that can be attributed to the release of the iPhone 3G.

“The release of the iPhone 3G has brought large gains in Web-browsing share,” said a Net Applications report. “Prior to the launch, iPhone usage share had leveled off, but has since resumed its upward trend.”

While Microsoft still maintains a commanding lead over the global OS market, however, Net Applications is indicating that their dominance is on a steady decline. This decrease is not only coinciding with the iPhone but also with Linux and Mac OS X. Additionally, Microsoft’s browser share has dropped off as Internet Explorer’s 78.36% market share in October of 2007 fell to 72.15 % by August of 2008.

[via CNet]

Survey Shows Apple on Top of Customer Satisfaction Index

Christina — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:23:58 +0000

This might come as no surprise to those of us following the golden trail of Apple, but this week the University of Michigan released its annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores, and Apple blew away the competition.

The survey, which measures a consumer’s overall satisfaction with a company, including product quality, value, customer service, and other value based nuances, was assembled during the second quarter through thousands of interviews countrywide. While the surveys timing bypassed the launch of the 3G iPhone and the disastrous MobileMe, Apple took top honors for the 5th straight year, with an increase in year-to-year customer satisfaction to boot. Apple scored a whopping 85 points on the index, a full ten points higher than second place Dell and Apple’s highest score to date.

University of Michigan professor Claes Fornell attributed Apple’s positive score to the “clear success the Mac has had among the U.S. public” combined with the fact that they chose not to implement Windows Vista, which more likely than not, was responsible for the dissatisfaction of companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Gateway.

Fornell goes on to say that they have “never seen a gap between the leader and the rest of the pack this big. If we are correct in that it has something to do with the launch of Vista, the other guys will of course correct that and come back a little bit.” Naturally, Fornell also believes that next year’s survey will be whistling a different tune, less consumers forget about the red-headed step children Apple has recently unleashed….starts with 3G and ends in MobileMe? Or have you already forgotten?

Either way, major props to Apple for continuously being the best at what they do and inspiring those around them to do so as well. With satisfaction rates like these, an increase in market-share and sales is sure to follow.

[via CNet]

Mac Users Stay Loyal with Overwhelming Number of iPhone 3G Purchases

Christina — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:27:48 +0000

On July 11th, while many of us were waiting in line to grab our piece of the 1 million iPhones sold this last weekend, members of investment bank Piper Jaffray were conducting a survey in the New York and Minneapolis queues that quantified everything from launch demand to the mix of 8GB and 16GB models, to the phones from which customers were upgrading. The results were then compared to those of a similar survey taken during the launch of the original iPhone on June 29th, 2007. Here is what was discovered:

The survey shows that out of the total respondents on July 11th, 2008, 61% of those in line to purchase the iPhone 3G were already loyal Mac users. Compared to last year, where 75% were Mac user and the remaining 25% PC users, this shows that Apple is beginning to adopt influence over Windows users. Unfortunately, the survey also shows that those who answered “yes” when asked if they would “use an iPod in addition to their phone,” dropped by 17%, showing that the iPhone is indeed cannibalizing the user-friendly (destined to be obsolete?) iPod. On the service front 62% of those in line this year claim to be existing customers of AT&T, up from last year’s 48%. Which clearly shows that AT&T is definitely putting a dent in its competitors networks and user base.

Now here is where is gets interesting: Of those waiting in line, 38% already owned the original iPhone and were purchasing the 3G as an upgrade. 20% were upgrading their phone from a Motorola, 3% from a Treo and 6% from a Blackberry. Last year 35% switched over from Motorola, 13% from Treo, and a mere 6% from Blackberry. The #1 cited reason for purchasing the iPhone 3G was the new features added to the phone…Which would explain the 38% coming to double-dip in the iPhone jar. I wonder what percentage of people will be planning to hock their first generation iPhone on eBay? After all, the recently released iPhone 2.0 software is available on a first generation iPhone, so they aren’t entirely obsolete.

While we find the numbers in the survey to be entirely feasible, the author failed to note the conditions of how the survey was conducted. For example: The results of a survey where those in the front of the line since 3 a.m. were questioned would provide vastly different results than those questioned strolling into queue at 8 a.m. with their 10 pound Dell laptop tucked neatly under their arm. We’re just saying….

While the number of iPhones sold in the first weekend clearly exceeds Piper Jaffray’s initial estimate of 425,000 units from Friday to Sunday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster issued an updated report to clients in which he estimated the majority of that upside was driven by stronger than anticipated demand internationally. Specifically, he estimated that 400,000 units were sold here in the U.S., 250,000 units sold in the U.K., and an average of 18,000 units were sold in each of the remaining 19 countries. “Global demand for the iPhone is better than expected.

This trend will likely continue as Apple rolls out an additional 58 countries in the next several months,” Munster said. You can find specific contry/carrier information by checking out the MacBlogz iPhone World Map. “In addition, we expect Apple will sell phones in China and Russia by year end. The only problem is production, but we continue to believe 45 million units for 2009 is achievable.” Yes, he did say 45,000,000. Pretty soon everyone is going to have one. At least then we won’t have to worry about getting jumped on the bus on the way home from work while daydreaming and listening to the Moody Blues.

via AI