28 May
Back to the 66% share increase for Apple in the $1000+ computer market, John Gruber notes “So the striking thing about this report isn’t that the number makes Apple look good, it’s how much better Apple is doing than just two years ago.” Again, this may or may not be true, but until NPD releases the denominator to go along with that numerator, we’ll never know for sure. The numbers are not on NPD’s site, and appear to have been only given verbally to a reporter. I’m not trying to pop the Apple bubble here (I write this on a Macbook Pro), but there are two ways to grow share—increase the numerator, or decrease the denominator. I have no doubt whatsoever that the former is true. But I also have no doubt that the latter is as well. But by how much?
So when we look at the growth in that share from 18% in 2006 to 66% this year, we need to temper our definition of “explosive growth” until we get a credible source for the overall size of the $1000+ market. And thank you to those of you who wrote in to rebut or support my last piece on this—my point, again, is not to attack the Apple enthusiasts (or owners of Windows-based PC’s for that matter) but to once again point out that journalists just don’t ask enough questions about numbers. If Joe Wilcox had asked just one more question, then we would have no debate. I have no doubt that Apple has shown phenomenal growth over the past year—I just wish we could calibrate this share figure.
