- The ratio of Mac sales to PC sales has reached a proportion not seen since 1985.
It may be hard to recall now, but back in the 1980s, Macintosh computers were the premiere technology that everyone wanted. Things changed after Microsoft and its Windows operating system took off, thoroughly dominating the personal computer world from the 1990s and beyond.
However, Apple is finally catching up. According to an article released July 4 by Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, the ratio of Mac sales to PC sales has reached a proportion not seen since 1985.
This trend would have sounded quite improbable in 2004, when PCs outsold Macs by a ratio of 56 to 1. Dediu credits the turnaround on the success of the MacBook laptops.
“As a result the Mac began to whittle down the advantage Windows had,” he writes. “The ratio of Windows to Mac units shipped fell to below 20, a level that was last reached before Windows 95 launched. It’s as if the Mac reversed the Windows advantage. This was an amazing turnaround for the Mac.”
When Dediu took into account iPad and iPhone sales, the ratio was closer to two PCs sold for one Apple device sold.
“Seen this way, Post-PC devices wiped out of leverage faster than it was originally built,” he writes. “They not only reversed the advantage but canceled it altogether.”
This switch could have big implications for those involved in application control and layered security. Until April 2012, Apple claimed that its users did not need the programs designed to block applications that Windows users needed, according to The Telegraph.
However, with more Apple computer users now, hackers might start targeting such devices en masse. A Flashback Trojan virus in April affected 600,000 people, according to the paper.
Do you own a Mac or a PC? Do you think Mac users need to be more vigilant about security now that Apple computers are so popular?
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