According to Market Watch Apple Inc. is set to deliver its third-quarter results after the market closes Monday, and analysts see Macintosh sales as a key measure of the company’s success heading into the back-to-school shopping season.
Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray said in a research note that Apple’s Mac sales will be “the key to the quarter,” and that he expects Apple to report Mac sales of 2.35 million units during the quarter. Munster said that such sales would be a 33% increase over a year ago, compared to an industrywide growth rate of 16% during the quarter.
The Mac has been a big driver of Apple’s growth in recent quarters, and according to research firm Gartner Inc., the Mac seemed to pick up more steam during the second quarter of the year. Gartner said that in the U.S., Apple shipped 1.4 million Macs, a 38% increase from a year ago, and good enough to overtake Acer with 8.5% of the U.S. market.