Yes Microsofties, Apple In-Store Sales May Be Down, But…
By Ed Oswald | Monday, November 30, 2009 at 10:50 am
Microsofties could barely contain their glee when this video made the rounds of the Internet over the weekend. As you can see, it shows a tale of two stores: the Mission Viejo Apple store practically barren while the Microsoft Store in that mall (yes, the one with the dancing employees) is buzzing with activity.
Some of us probably brushed this off as an isolated incident, as Apple really does not have a blockbuster product this holiday season to draw the crazed Black Friday masses in. But according to Piper Jaffray Apple analyst Gene Munster, his research is showing that slowness at Apple Stores may have actually been the norm.
About 8.3 Macs per hour were sold at retail that day at stores visited by Munster’s team, well down from the 13 per hour rate last year. However, it would be fair to note that Best Buy’s Apple “store-within-a-store” has expanded significantly and a few more Apple Stores have opened since last year.
(Some of Apple’s partners were also offering much better discounts on Apple products than the company was, too…)
Before Redmond starts dancing in the streets, take this into account. Analysis of Apple’s online store performance shows 39 percent year over year growth in sales. This outperformed the entire e-commerce sector by three times. Munster says that this online jump should be more than enough to offset any losses at retail.
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November 30th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
The Apple store in my town sold 8.8 computers an hour . Im seriously glad to see the Microsoft store doing well. Too bad they’re unoriginal. But competition is a good thing… The amount of offerings in the cheapo netbook market last year was nothing like it was this year. I think the increase in selection along with a larger price gap is a big factor in the decline of macs sold per hour….
November 30th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
“Apple really does not have a blockbuster product this holiday season to draw the crazed Black Friday masses in”
Well, neither does MSFT. But MSFT DOES have the Fantasia-like dancing geeks (absent the cowled crocodiles). And, as you point out, Apple has the on-line store. We’ll have to wait for the real numbers, in the EOQ earnings call.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Yes, Tom. Personally I think that the allure of something new (this is the MS store’s first Black Friday) was a draw. Munster said in the report that he expected the online sales to balance out any weakness in retail, and he did not adjust his sales expectations downward.
But I got that video in a facebook status from a Microsoftie, and felt it was important to contrast/balance it with Apple’s apparent successes online.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Why would this site, It’s author or anyone take a extremely small sampled survey from an analyst that might have an agenda ( you think) . You know the one’s that have been right regarding Apple going out of business (100 times ) ipod would never catch on / Apple shoud stay out of the phone biz they get killed etc etc )
This is ridiculous just because one store in one location is shot and surveyed by someone at a specific time doesn’t make it so in any general terms. Amazing how many reports are constantly exposed as PURE BULL OR FUD each and every time Apple makes it quarterly financial report.
November 30th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
The help lines for the online store were swamped.
November 30th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
One thing I’ve learned in life is when I see the word “Microsoftie”, I’m about to hear an Apple fan take stand.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Tengeta: Please check out Mary Jo Foley. She coined the term, I just co-opted it. 🙂 I’d hardly call her an Apple fanboy! Thanks for reading, sir.
December 1st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Ed the title suggests you were talking TO ‘Microsofties’ as in some ‘other people’ with yourself not included – regardless of who coined the term. But hey that’s OK, I think the people who read regularly this blog know it has an Apple slant, and we still keep coming back 🙂
I think sales alone means little, profit and market penetration are what’s important, and Apple are doing pretty well when it comes to mobiles at the moment. I have a feeling that android is going to spoil the party though, with it’s less restrictive App store and general openness. Still Apple might surprise us again, and who knows, so might Microsoft with Windows Mobile 7.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:20 am
With regards to market share in the desktop space, see
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/02/market_share_statistics/
Interesting.