Buoyed by a very good summer selling season, Apple Computer Inc’s John Sculley looks for the personal computer industry to sustain its current growth rate for several more years as companies continue to offer new, more powerful machines. 1987 has turned out to be a phenomenal year for the industry, Sculley told Reuters in an interview. Outside of a world recession, I don’t see anything that is going to stop the good growth we’ve had in the personal computer industry. Most importantly, fuelled by new applications like desk-top publishing, Apple is increasing its penetration of the business market: we’re gaining market share, we’re getting into the largest corporations, he said. The Sanford C Bernstein investment firm confirms the increase in market share for Apple, forecasting that the company will take 22.9% of the market this year, up from 19.5% last year – a market that it reckons will grow by 30% in unit terms to 6m machines sold. International sales have taken off, and should be 50% above last year’s $300m. Apple’s full-year figures are due tomorrow, and while Sculley was not prepared to anticipate the figures, Apple has said earlier in the year that sales should be in the region of $2,500m, 30% up on the $1,902m it recorded for fiscal 1986.
