Key Metrics

• Over 54 million active Mac users around the world
• The Mac has experienced Year over Year growth of 28% versus a decline of 1% for the PC
• The Mac has outgrown the industry every quarter for the past 5 years
• Notebooks account for 73% of Mac sales, desktops 27%
• Mac OS X was launched in 2001, 10 years ago
• Mac OS X is Lion represents a major release of Mac OS X with over 250 new features

The following image captures are from Phil Schiller's presentation:




Phil Schiller mentioned that Lion contains over 250 new features.  He then went on to describe 10 key features of Mac OS X Lion.  I'll highlight those in a separate post.

Commentary
When I launched this site on January 1, 2006, just over 5.5 years ago, the Mac was just beginning it's significant market share and user base growth.  Over the course of the past 5.5 years, I've made predictions about the Mac, called out the underlying engine of growth (switchers and those new to the Mac), provided commentary, and analyzed key aspects of Apple's strategy that have benefited the Mac.

In an earlier post from today, I took the position that Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud are keys to what I call the Unified Apple Platform:

"We're on the cusp of the Unified Apple Platform. Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud lay the groundwork for the next decade of Apple innovation.

Just as many questioned my stance in early 2006 (and as early as 2005) that the Mac was about to embark on a major growth phase, time will tell if my Unified Apple Platform prediction is within the realm of possibility.