I am constantly amazing at the wealth of competing rumors about Apple’s financial and sales health. It’s like with nothing really concrete to report until quarterlies are announced in April they have to exist only by feeding on themselves. Fortune says Apple portable sales up while the Wall Street Journal and CNET claims the Mac sales are down. Of course in this upside down, topsy-turvey world of half-truths and innuendoes it is entirely possible they’re both right. Mac portable sales can be up and overall Mac sales (desktops and laptops) can be down depending on the drag of slow desktop sales. It’s the interpretation of such news that makes all the difference. Selective reporting is hardly anything new as the spin put on it depends on what your selected audience expects. Example: One newspaper headline reads, “DOWNTOWN BUILDING COLLAPSES! Police evacuate area!”. Another has a small story about the successful planned demolition of a condemned building with the police holding spectators back at a safe distance. Both are theoretically accurate, but one sensationalizes what is in reality a trivial event.
It’s a down economy. Apple sells a premium product. Do the math. The fact that laptop sales are slightly (though who knows how accurate THIS is) up in a period AFTER a holiday like Christmas is a small miracle in and of itself. Perhaps more people are finally understanding what a lot of Mac people have been saying since OS X (well at least after version 10.2 came out) was released. Apple’s Mac line holds its value better than a similar computer running Windows. Even when the hardware is the same. Check it yourself. Go to eBay and do a search on MacBooks or MacBook Pros. Look at the typical selling prices. Now go look at at Windows computers with the same basic hardware. What did you find? Do the same for iMacs and similar desktop Windows computers. Even though the Windows desktops have expandability far beyond anything the iMac has, what did you find? For those not interested in doing the research I’ll help you out. Even with similar hardware, Macs hold their value longer than equivalent Windows computers.
OK, I confess to a bit of hyperbole here myself. One reason for why Macs hold their resale better that others is economy of scale. There are probably thousands of companies selling Windows compatible computers and only one that (legally anyway) sells Macs. This creates an artificial shortage in used computers that drives up the reselling price of a Mac as compared to a WinPC. That’s not the end of story though. Another reason for Macs having a higher resale value is that they last longer. Sure they’re well-built and all that, but so are Dells, HPs, and most other major brands of Windows-based computers. It’s that they remain relevant longer (typically). Apple’s latest version of OS X (10.5) can be installed on computers that have at least a 867MHz G4 PPC processor. Do you know how far back that goes? Mid-2001 for the first release of a Mac (the QuickSilver G4 PowerMac tower) for an OS just released in mid-2007. Over 6 years later AND crossing a processor divide as wide as Intel X86 and PowerPC. How far back can you go for Microsoft’s latest OS Vista? Or the new one about to be released Windows 7?
OOOPS! There I go again. Sensationalizing a story. Windows 7 hasn’t been released yet so official specs aren’t really known. Add in that Apple’s soon-to-be-released Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) is pretty much a lock that it will only support Intel-based Macs and I get the feeling that the vast majority of those older PPC Macs resale value is about to take a major plunge.
I started this talking about conflicting reports on sales of Macs and I’ll finish here as well. This is your internet. Anyone can post whatever crap they pretty much want and tell you it’s the truth. Make up your own mind on what’s real and what’s make-believe. Buy with confidence whichever computer you prefer running whatever OS you are most comfortable with. If you take care of it, it will last you a few years (at least 3) before you need to be concerned about obsolescence. Everything after that is sauce for the goose including however much you can sell it for.
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