91% of all computers over $1000 sold in retail are Apple

I for one welcome our new Apple overlords.

Market research firm NPD has released the latest stats on retail sales, and Apple is showing Microsoft what’s up. Of all computers sold in retail stores that cost over $1000, Apple accounted for 91% of them in June. This shows that Apple is leading by a huge margin in the premium computer space, something that doesn’t surprise me.

Once upon a millenia, I worked at a big box retailer (I won’t name names, but it might begin with B and end with est Buy), in computer sales even. While the economy was certainly more lush back then, people had a hard time being convinced why they should spend the extra moolah on a Sony or other high end PC. At the time, the big upgrades were more memory, storage, DVD burners, and TV tuners. Most users had absolutely no need for those features and if they did, it was often one feature or the other – not the full gamut. Apple wasn’t really in retail then, but the trend stands true: PC’s have a hard time making the argument for the upsale to most users.

Also of interest in NPD’s report are the average selling prices for different types of computers:

• All computers: $701
• Desktops: $690 | Laptops $703
• Windows: $515 | Mac: $1400
• Windows desktops: $515 | Mac desktops: $1398
• Windows notebook: $520 ($569 excluding netbooks) | Mac laptops: $1400

There is a pretty simple explanation for Apple’s high average selling price: the cheapest model notebook they sell is $999 and the only “desktop” below that are the Mini’s at $599 & $799. Still that doesn’t explain away their ownership of the $1000+ market, rather their combination of marketing and differentiation has won enough consumers over who have that disposable income.

I highly recommend you check out the rest of the article at Betanews, as it has a lot of insight analysis and facts from the full NPD report.

Source: [Betanews] via [Gizmodo]

Tagged as: apple