Vista sold more PCs than Windows 7 did
Microsoft moved a lot of install disks, but hardware makers got a bigger bump two years ago
Photo: Philip Elmer-DeWitt
When Microsoft (MSFT) launches a new operating system, as it did two weeks ago, PC manufacturers like Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL) and Acer are supposed to reap the benefits. And everything seemed to be in place on Thursday Oct. 22 for that to happen.
"Never before has the industry launched such a variety of new form factors, price points, technology upgrades, and design innovations at one time," wrote NPD's Stephen Baker just before Windows 7's release. "This past weekend I happened by a Best Buy store and there was not one single PC for sale with Vista on it. Lots of Windows 7 machines, however, all of which were marked 'not for sale until October 22.' Someone did a great job in the supply chain making this happen. This will give Win 7 a tremendous boost out of the gate." (link)
Two weeks later, Baker is singing a different tune. Microsoft got a big boost according to NPD's weekly tracking data, racking up sales of Windows 7 that were 234% higher than Vista's during its first few days of sales. (More on that below the fold.)
But PC makers didn't make out quite as well. Although they had a relatively strong week, with unit sales up 49% year over year and 95% from the week before, it was nothing like Vista's launch in Feb. 2007. Then, sales soared 68% year over year and 170% from the week before.
In a press release issued Thursday, Baker explained what happened:
Snow Leopard's low-key launch
Apple's Fifth Ave. store
As of 8 a.m., there was no queue of eager customers lining up outside Apple's (AAPL) flagship Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan to buy the sixth major update of the Macintosh operating system, Snow Leopard, which went on sale Friday morning.
The relatively low-key launch was in striking contrast to the Oct. 26, 2007 unveiling of its predecessor, Leopard, which drew crowds that began at the store's big glass cube and wound around the block.
It's also in keeping with the nature of the new system, which for a new Apple OS boasts relatively few new features. As most reviewers have noted, Mac OS 10.6 is a faster, slimmer "refinement" of Leopard whose improvements are largely hidden from users.
UPDATE: Reader David Emery reports that there were 30 people waiting outside the new Reston, Va., Apple store when it opened at 10 a.m. Friday morning. And reader Mike in New York City reports that there were approximately 100 people outside Manhattan's 24-hour Fifth Ave. store when Snow Leopard went on sale at midnight the night before. It was raining in New York Friday morning, which may have discouraged early buyers.
See also:
Snow Leopard warning: Your apps may crash
snowleopard.wikidot.com
One day before the scheduled launch of Mac OS X Snow Leopard — the latest update of Apple's (AAPL) flagship operating system — developers are still scrambling to make sure their applications will work with the new version.
Of the Macintosh apps than have been tested on the gold master of OS X v.10.6 as of Wednesday morning, more than 60 either don't work or have major problems, according to snowleopard.wikidot.com, a collaborative project that is collating independent test results.
Apple taps 'Puddy' to attack Windows 7
Apple Inc.
After a hiatus of three and a half months without a new TV ad, Apple (AAPL) broke out a pair of fresh "Get a Mac" spots Monday night to soften the ground for the next operating system war with Microsoft (MSFT).
Earlier that day, Apple had announced that it was shipping the newest version of its flagship Macintosh OS — Snow Leopard — on Friday, nearly two months before the scheduled release of Windows 7.
"Top of the Line" and "Surprise" zero in on one of the main differences between the two systems — the profusion of viruses and other malware in Windows and the lack thereof in Mac OS X.
Snow Leopard: Apple's $66 million OS
Photo: Apple Inc.
As expected, the latest update to Apple's (AAPL) flagship Macintosh operating system — Mac OS X Snow Leopard — is going on sale Aug. 28 for the previously announced price of $29. (Press release here.)
Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster has done some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations and concluded Apple is in it less for the money than for the strategic advantage it hopes to gain over Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows 7, schedule to ship in October.
According to Munster, Apple is likely to sell 5 million copies of Mac OS X v10.6 in the remaining month of its fiscal fourth quarter for an average selling price of of $22 — less than $29 and more than the $9.95 Up-to-Date price Apple has offered customers who bought MacBook Pros after June 8.
At 60% gross margin, that comes out to $66 million, or $.05 per share — a bump that Munster believes has already been baked into the Street's Q4 estimates.
So what's really going on here, he asks rhetorically?
Barclays talks to Apple execs, raises target to $208
"We just met with Apple executives at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA, including Peter Oppenheimer, Greg Joswiak, and Eddy Cue."
Thus begins a note to clients sent Thursday by Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes. The note ends with Reitzes raising his Apple price target to $208 from $188 — one of the sparks that sent Apple (AAPL) shares up 1.88% to close at $168.42 for the day.
In between, Reitzes rattles off a list of new products he expects Apple to introduce in the months ahead. Although he insists the Apple execs he met didn't divulge any major secrets, Reitzes sounded pretty sure of himself. Among the coming attractions, as he sees them:
Snow Leopard vs. Windows 7: The War of the Wallpapers
Image: Microsoft Corp.
Image: Apple Inc.
"I would give a lot to have Steve’s taste."
Bill Gates said that of Steve Jobs at the D5 conference two years ago, and we knew exactly what he meant.
Take, for example, the two images above. They are samples of the new desktop images offered by this fall's big operating system updates: Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows 7, scheduled for release in October, and Apple's (AAPL) Snow Leopard, due in September.
Can you guess which is which?
Gates may have retired as CEO and Jobs may have spent much of 2009 on medical leave, but the taste gap persists.
To see the full sets of wallpapers, obtained by Creative Bits, click here for Windows 7 and here for Snow Leopard.
Video: Watch Apple's WWDC 2009 keynote
For those who couldn't make it to San Francisco Monday — or who couldn't get into the event (it sold out in record time) — Apple (AAPL) has posted a 2-hour streaming video of the entire keynote. Click here to watch it.
If you want to learn more about the iPhone 3G S without watching the video, the same link offers a 13-minute guided tour that can be played on a computer or an iPod. It also offers links to videos about Snow Leopard and the new MacBook Pros.
See also:
Analyst: The $99 iPhone will increase sales twofold
The price cuts Apple (AAPL) announced Monday on the MacBook and iPhone lines are "significant" and surprisingly aggressive, writes Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster in a note to clients issued after the WWDC keynote was over.
Historically, he writes, a 50% cut in iPhone pricing has increased demand twofold.
He's referring to the last year's cut to $199 from $399. That price reduction was actually accompanied by a tripling of global unit sales (from 4.7 million to 15 million), but some of those sales were in overseas markets. U.S. sales in that period, he estimates, increased twofold.
The MacBook price cuts were more modest — between 5% and 15% — but make Munster "increasingly confident" in his near-term Mac estimates (2.2 million Macs in the third fiscal quarter; 2.4 million in fourth quarter, which ends in September).
The pricing on OS X Snow Leopard was even more aggressive; it's scheduled to ship in September for $29 (for current Leopard users), as opposed to the typical $129 operating system upgrade.
Munster says he's not worried about the impact on Apple's bottom line, however. He notes that when Leopard shipped in 2007, the Mac user base was about 23 million. Today Apple announced that its user base has grown to 75 million active OS X users.
Munster, having predicted that Jobs would return to Apple by the end of June and not before, claims he is not surprised that the CEO was a no-show Monday.
Apple's World Wide Developers Conference runs until Friday.
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