Apple has been on one hell of a tear lately. The company's signature iPhone dominates the smartphone market. Apple's new iPad is, by far, the best selling tablet being sold today. There's only one market where Apple is still playing catch up: Computer sales, an arena where PCs still dominate. But even there, Apple can find a silver lining: CNN is reporting that the gap between Mac sales and PC sales is the smallest its been since the 1990s.
Currently, PCs are outselling Macs by a ratio of about 20 to 1. That's a huge lead, but Apple has been steadily closed the gap over the last decade from its 2004 low of 55 to 1. When you factor in mobile devices such as phones and tablet computers, the PC vs. Mac gap closes to a mere 2 to 1, with Apple likely to draw even within the next year or two.
According to tech analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco, the secret to Apple's recent success is the MacBook. "The MacBook became easily differentiable as a 'better' laptop. It was not faster, did not have more storage or any key metrics being used to sell PCs. It was just better as an integrated product." And given the splash that the new MacBook Pro with Retina display is making in tech circles, Apple may wind up seeing yet another strong boost in their market share.
