Mr. Munster noted that his comparison showed that Mac OS X costs users US$129 per year for the full version, or $107.50 on average to upgrade, given the fact that Mac OS X v10.1 was a free upgrade. In contrast, Microsoft has averaged 2.25 years between major Windows releases, with an average cost of $114 per year for the full version, or $48 annually to keep up with upgrades.
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“Appleis strategy assumes that users are more inclined to buy cheaper versions more frequently,” the analyst wrote, “which results in higher costs per year for Apple users when compared to Windows users. Given Appleis ability to drive greater revenue per
customer versus its competitors through sales of peripherals and frequent OS updates, Mac market share gains will mean more to the
company than simply increasing Mac revenue. Most analyses of the impact of Mac market share gains exclude the positive potential
impact on the companyis peripherals and software segments, which account for 12% of revenue.
“We believe it is important to keep this
added benefit in mind, as a growing number of Macs in consumeris hands will lift these segments as well.”
Mr. Munster retained his “Outperform” rating on Appleis stock, with a $99 price target. At 1:43 PM EST on Monday, the companyis shares were selling for $67.41, down 1.95% for the day.
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3:41 PM EST: Updated article with chart.