Apple Japan Struggling?

A lot has been made of Apple's resurgence in sales, particularly that they have ridden proverbial backs of its iPod products. People everywhere are talking about switching, and I keep hearing my fellow gaijin here in Japan, contemplating the same thing. With Apple's new Intel line arriving and expanding, you'd think that Apple was improving on all fronts.

However, I was surprised by one sales figure reported in Apple's Q2 report by AppleInsider: weak Mac sales in Japan.

Overall, Apple sold about 1.1 million Macs, and a 4% increase in units sold. About 0.6 million were desktops and 0.5 million were laptops.

Mac sales in the US were about 0.5 million Macs (4% increase), Europe - 0.3 million (14% increase), but in Japan, Apple only sold 82,000 Macs for a TWENTY % decrease!

Wow! Can you say, "Lackluster"?

The only thing that makes up for the loss in sales is that revenues were up 9% in Japan - but this figure includes all things sold by Apple, and I'd guess it reflects an increase in iPod sales.

I really have to wonder about the Japan sales figures, and sort of think that the problem may be one I touched on before - a lack of truly lightweight laptops that appeal to Japanese customers, and women in particular.

Wake up Apple! Get that iBook replacement out soon, or expect more hits on your sales.