Could be short-term anomaly

Macs saw unusually high levels of government and business interest during the June quarter, says Needham analyst Charlie Wolf. Looking back at figures, Wolf notes that government Mac sales grew a colossal 200.8 percent year-over-year, over 16 times faster than the rest of the PC market's 12.1 percent. Business sales of Macs grew by 49.8 percent, topping the industry's 15.7 percent.

In terms of the corporate Mac market, Wolf remarks that the largest businesses were the greatest source of growth, improving their buy-in by 103 percent. Smaller but still large institutions rose by 98.3 percent. By contrast the consumer market -- said to be Apple's most important -- was up only 31.4 percent, even if that represents a large sum. Educational sales may have been disappointing to the company, rising only 14.7 percent versus the market's 21.7.

"Whether the June blip was a one-quarter phenomenon or something more enduring should be revealed in future quarters," says Wolf. Governments and businesses could, in theory, simply be doing mass upgrades or experimentation with Macs. If institutions are genuinely expanding their Mac ownership however, this summer's sales should have a ripple effect going into the future.

by MacNN Staff