Thursday, January 20, 2005 12:18 pm32 Comments

• MacDailyNews

“Apple’s retail outlets will be critical in selling Mac mini’s to Windows users, according to Needham & Co.,” Jonny Evans reports for Macworld UK. “In a research note released to clients analyst Charles Wolf postulates that with Apple ‘frequently described as a religion,’ the Apple Stores, ‘have become the places of worship, succeeding brilliantly in spreading the gospel.’ And the introduction of the Mac mini will help the stores in the task of, ‘attracting Windows users to the Mac platform and growing the Mac’s market share,’ he writes.”

“IDC figures released yesterday showed Apple to be the fifth place US PC vendor, with worldwide unit shipments growing well in excess of the industry average in 2004, and a 0.1 per cent rise in global marketshare, to 3.3 per cent. Apple saw 25 per cent growth in the quarter, in contrast to an industry average of 13.7 per cent. Since launch in May 2001 Apple Stores now deliver revenues of $2.2 billion per year – 16 per cent of Apple’s worldwide sales, and 40 per cent of Apple’s US retail sales. The company had 101 stores open at the end of December, and plans to open 25 more this year, Wolf said, pointing out that sales per square foot are ‘more than five times higher’ than typical mall-based stores,” Evans reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Sometimes analysts are masters of stating the obvious.