Betanews reports on data obtained exclusively from NPD that reveals that Apple dominates sales of PC hardware above the $1,000 mark. The information was gleaned by Joe Wilcox directly from Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis.
In the report Wilcox reports that, "Nine out of ten" premium PCs (over $1,000) purchased in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2009 was a Mac. The data which isn't presented in raw format showed that lower-priced Macs were also in demand.
In a startling change of tone Wilcox goes onto quote Baker with a warning for Apple:
"They continue to gain share in those segments, but almost all the growth was in under $500 computers, where they don't play," Baker told me today. "So at some point they are clearly going to run out of headroom in $1,000-plus, and in the $500-$1,000 segment they are still pretty small. And, of course, if selling prices continue on this path, the 'premium' segment is going to be over $500 not over $1,000."
Wilcox goes onto to compare Apple's ASP (average selling price) numbers to that of the Windows PC industry which was $475, down from $589 a year earlier, according to date from NPD. Mac ASP was $1,361, down from $1,499.