Lion Keeps Mac Sales Roaring
The Mac is about to have its best quarter ever.
Again.
According to the latest metrics from NPD, Mac sales were up 22 percent in July and August, putting Apple on track to sell between 4.4 million and 4.6 million Macs in the September quarter.
That’s a new record.
Clearly, the July introduction of the company’s OS X Lion operating system and refreshes of the MacBook Air and Mac Mini have done much to juice demand for new Mac hardware, as Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster observed in a note to clients.
“We believe that Mac sales in the month of August benefited from new Mac products,” Munster wrote in a research note to clients. “On July 20th Apple released OS X Lion, a $29 download also included in all Mac sales on or after 7/20. Since the Lion release timing was known, Apple likely benefited from pent-up demand for Macs, which also explains soft NPD data in the month of June (+7% y/y). The company also released updated versions of the MacBook Air and the Mac mini on 7/20, which provided a tailwind for Mac sales in the month of Aug.”