Snow Leopard outselling other Apple operating systems

Sales for Apple's latest operating system Snow Leopard "far exceed" the firm's previous releases, according to an analyst.

The NDP Group said Apple's Snow Leopard OS X, released two weeks ago, has sold twice as well as Leopard and four times as well as Tiger in their first two weeks.

"Even though some considered Snow Leopard to be less feature-focused than the releases of Leopard or Tiger, the ease of upgrading to Snow Leopard and the affordable pricing made it a win-win for Apple computer owners - thus helping to push sales to record numbers" said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, in a statement.

After the first week after its release, sales of Snow Leopard fell off just 25 per cent, while sales of Leopard and Tiger dropped 60 per cent after their first week.

Snow Leopard's low price likely has a lot to do with this, noted Baker.

"With pricing reduced by more than $100 for both the single-user and five-user pack versus Leopard pricing, Apple has clearly demonstrated that aggressive pricing policies in this economic environment generate an outstanding consumer response," he said.

Baker noted it would be interesting to see how the sales compare to the other major OS out this year, Windows 7.

"As we head into the fall selling season, and the release of another major OS upgrade, it will be instructive to see if that upgrade - currently projected to sell at ASPs much higher than Snow Leopard - can deliver the same incremental increase in consumer demand that Snow Leopard has enjoyed," he said.

Click here for our review of Snow Leopard.