Retail sales of Apple products grew 8 percent during the March quarter, an analyst said Wednesday. What’s even more intriguing was a 21.3 percent jump in Mac sales during a period when no new Apple computers were introduced.
Charlie Wolf, analyst with Needham & Company, told investors the March performance followed 19.8 percent year-over-year growth of same-store sales in December, a traditionally-strong period. Even more dramatic was March’s increase served as a nearly mirror image of a year ago, when Mac retail sales were down almost 22 percent.
Apple retail demand grew 1.2 percent even when Mac sales were omitted, Wolf said. That grow was the first in six quarters.
While Apple originally opened its retail locations “to spotlight the Mac, which had virtually no retail visibility,” the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s flagship line of Macs are “going mainstream with many consumer electronic chains selling the Mac both here and abroad,” the analyst said.
Earlier this month, Apple announced Mac sales were up 33 percent in March. Apple COO Tim Cook also said the company plans to expand retail distribution. That expansion seems directly tied to increased Mac sales, another analyst suggests.
Between September 2003 and September 2009, Apple opened 123 U.S. stores. During that period, the Mac’s U.S. marketshare increased from 3 percent to 9 percent, according to Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty.
[via AppleInsider]
