Mac market share slips, but chip milestone passed

Computerworld - The growth of Mac OS's market share stalled in October, just a month after a record increase, a research firm has reported.

According to Net Applications, Apple Inc.'s operating system accounted for 6.55% of all systems that browsed the 40,000 sites the company monitored in October, down slightly from 6.61% during the month before and a significant change in direction from September, when Mac OS X posted a gain of about half a percentage point over August.

The slip -- the first since July -- may be due to sales slowing after the company wrapped up its annual back-to-school promotion in mid-September. Two weeks ago, during a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Apple executives called the promotion "extraordinary" and intimated that its sales might dampen short-term demand.

"We had just a fantastic September quarter, but really back-to-school and our higher-ed results were an all-time high for the company," said Peter Oppenheimer, the company's chief financial officer. He added that unlike in years past, Apple might not be able to beat the just-finished quarter's sales during the holiday season. "This year, it's possible that Mac sales could be sequentially a little lower, given the extraordinary success of the back-to-school promotion," Oppenheimer said.

The stagnation of Mac market share may also be connected to the release of Mac OS X 10.5, a.k.a. Leopard, on Oct. 26, as some buyers postponed purchases until after Leopard's launch to ensure machines had the new operating system preinstalled.

Net Applications' data also showed that October was also the first month since Apple switched to Intel Corp. processors that the newer Macs accessed the Internet in greater numbers than older, PowerPC-equipped Macs. Last month, Intel-based Macs accounted for 3.41% of all machines, in comparison with 3.14% for PowerPC Macs. In September, Macs running the older processors still outnumbered Intel systems by 3.38% to 3.23%.

On the Windows front, Net Applications said that Vista, Microsoft Corp.'s newest operating system, gained market share for the ninth consecutive month, ending October at 7.91%, up from 7.38% in September.

Computers running Windows 2000, XP or Vista accounted for 90.14% of those that connected to the Web last month, down slightly from the year's high of 90.55% in July.

Related News and Discussion:

• Leopard's hits and misses: A spotty record
• Apple perks up MacBooks with faster chip sets, better graphics
• David Ramel's blog: I hate Macs
• Sound Off: Is the Mac a "viable alternative for real people with real jobs"?
• Ding! Mac vs. PC cost analysis, Round II
• The 8 most dangerous consumer technologies

Read more about hardware in Computerworld's Hardware Knowledge Center.