San Francisco: Apple Inc. doesn't see "any ceiling" to market-share gains for its Macintosh computer, either in the US or globally, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said.
"You're seeing Macs all over the place," Oppenheimer, 45, said yesterday during a presentation at the Citi Investment Research Technology Conference in New York.
Apple's personal-computer shipments soared 38 per cent in the US last quarter, vaulting it to third place, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Apple has capitalised on the popularity of its iPod media players and iPhones to attract buyers to its computers.
The fact that the Mac operating system now allows users to run Microsoft Corp.'s rival Windows software also has won over customers, Oppenheimer said.
The company will continue to price its products at a level that generates "a reasonable margin, while not so high as to create an umbrella for our competitors," Oppenheimer said. Apple ranks behind Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. in US PC sales, according to Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner. Macs account for almost half of Apple's revenue.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, dropped 23 cents to $165.96 at 3:05pm. New York time Thursday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares had fallen 16 per cent this year.
The company wants to bring the iPhone to China, Oppenheimer said, without elaborating. Apple is "very happy" with the profit margins on the new iPhone 3G model, which debuted in July, he said.
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