August 25, 2008, 10:01 PM — That seems to be the consensus among the money people, anyway. And we're not just talking about iPhones: the Mac, almost forgotten in the gadgety shuffle, will probably see 3 million units sold this quarter, which is pretty unprecedented. Plans to buy Apple products have reached an all-time high, even in a weak market for electronics, and a Piper Jaffray analyst has pegged Apple's stock at being capable of rising another 45 percent. Macs are even selling well in the enterprise, despite a lack of effort on Apple's part in that segment.
Not everyone is hyped, naturally. The problems with the iPhone and MobileMe and exploding iPod batteries have been gone over at length elsewhere. The ravings of Rob Enderle (OH MY GOODNESS APPLE WANTS THE CHILDREN TO BURN IN BED) can as usual be ignored, but Farhad Manjoo's conclusion to his own more skeptical piece are cogent:
What's more, Apple's customer base is widening beyond longtime Mac fanatics -- people who give the company a pass because they regard it as an underdog. The Mac's market share is growing rapidly, suggesting that lots of Windows users are switching.
The trouble of getting new converts is that they aren't always the true believers...
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