news Iconic technology manufacturer Apple overnight claimed to have boosted its Macintosh sales in Australia by 70 percent year-on-year.

In the company’s quarterly results briefing in the US, Apple chief operating officer Timothy Cook reportedly (SMH, ComputerWeekly) said Australian sales had grown 70 percent in the quarter to 26 December, compared with the same quarter in 2008, describing the result as “spectacular”.

Data from analyst firm IDC shows that Apple’s share of the Australian laptop and PC market is growing steadily.

In August 2008, ZDNet.com.au reported IDC figures showing Apple’s share was 6.2 per cent of the market in the first quarter of 2008, growing 41 per cent over the same period in the previous year.

Today, IDC associate analyst Neville Chan said Apple’s share as of September 2009 — the most recent period accounted for — was approximately 7 per cent. Australians bought just under 1.2 million units in the period (including corporate and consumer sales), which would place total Apple unit shipments in that quarter at approximately 84,000.

Chan said like other vendors, Apple had faced difficulties in Australia due to the global financial crisis early in 2009. “But Apple has been more buoyant compared to other vendors in the past 6 months,” he said, noting Apple’s refresh of its Macbook Pro line could have contributed to “healthy demand”.

However, the most dominant players in the Australian market continue to be Hewlett-Packard, followed closely by Dell, and then Acer.

As with other vendors, Apple Mac buyers are increasingly moving towards the laptop form factor rather than the traditional desktop models, Chan said: “The end user is now demanding the portability.”

Image credit: re-ality

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1. connectionfailure
   Posted 04/02/2010 at 9:27 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Doesn't matter. They control the iPhone and they control the Mac OS. They're the company people Love to Hate or Maker of Fanbois. The halo effect is real. If people 'get' the iPhone then they are more likely to ditch their virus-and-spyware-laden WindowsPC for a shiny new iMac.

   I love how when Sony or JVC invents a new port, cable, interface or protocol no one says anything, but when Apple does it they are suddenly an evil company that's out to get your last dollar.

2. krankenkassen
   Posted 21/02/2010 at 2:19 am | Permalink | Reply

   Do you think I should buy apple shares now, or is it too late?

3. Stuart French
   Posted 27/01/2010 at 11:34 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Love to know what percentage of this was from iPhone sales.

4. Renai LeMay
   Posted 27/01/2010 at 11:36 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I don't think this is referring to iPhone sales — just Mac sales. But I will try and find out some iPhone stats as well — think IDC has some.