As expected, the iMac is most compelling to existing Apple users, who have been waiting for something innovative out of Cupertino for years. According to data from ComputerWare, the largest remaining Mac-only retailer in the U.S., approximately 75% of iMacs being sold are going to people who previously owned Macs. Interestingly, 15% are new to computers and 13% are replacing a Intel PC. The iMac is on target to sell 400,000 units by the end of the year, an amazing feat for Apple: Their previous crop of Macs, the G3 desktop line, sold only 133,000 units in its first two months, almost exclusively to existing Mac users.
What's interesting about this story, I suppose, is the spin other news agencies are putting on it: According to many stories on the Net, the 13% of users who are upgrading an Intel PC to an iMac is a sign that, somehow, the Mac is making inroads in Windows territory. Let's put this in perspective: The trends we're quoting come from ComputerWare, which only sells Macintosh computers and the numbers represent only 500 actual iMac sales. This is hardly a wholesale indication of any sort of transition, by any measure. But then the truth usually makes poor copy on the Internet
