Apple grabs nearly half of US retail desktop revenue

While sales of Apple PCs make up just a fraction of total PC sales, the much higher ASPs of Macs results in a significant retail revenue share for Apple. BetaNews reports Apple grabbed nearly 48 percent of US retail desktop computer revenue in October 2009, and about 34 percent of laptop sales.

The reason why Apple squeezes so much revenue out of the PC market is because the average Mac users spends almost triple as much on his/her system than the average Windows PC user. Desktop systems with Windows have an average selling price of $491, while Apple Macs average at $1,338. The same can be seen in the notebook market, while the average Windows laptop costs $519, the average Apple notebook sells for $1,410.

Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, attributes some of Apple's October gains to the release of fast, new iMacs during the same month that Windows PC sales declined ahead of Windows 7's October 22nd launch. "You only really had 10 days to catch up some 20 days of lost [Windows PC] sales," Baker said.

Additionally there is the recession, which force hit following the late-September 2008 stock market crash. "You're comparing the [iMac] launch month this year to the month last year when people stopped going into stores to buy things," Baker said. "To some extent it's a little bit apples and oranges."