Apple’s Real Share Of The PC Market That Matters

This photo of iBook-wielding students at the Missouri School of Journalism reminds us of the “stat” that keeps getting rolled out about is that Apple only make 5-6% of the computers sold in the US. The thing about that statistic is that it covers all the PCs that ever get sold - and that includes all the dull boxes that get shipped to all the dull business blocks, government agencies and admin centers around the country. If you were just using a computer for admin or data input, of course you don’t need an Apple computer.

80% of the kids in this picture have an iBook and if you go to a cafe near to a NYU and find someone with a PC laptop you know that they’re embarrassed by the thing and it’s only because their parents went out and bought it without asking them in the first place. No? The creative class and the emerging generation of super-creative-class do not drive a PC.

Why are we counting apples with oranges when it comes to computer sales? How about this: let’s guess that purchases for computers that help the US tick-over account for 70% of purchases - and then ignore this group as unimportant to the US creative productivity: That would mean that Apple sells about 20% of the market that matters - and who knows maybe they sell to more.

Just a theory.

Photo viaRocketboom