Apple’s third-quarter earnings report, released on Tuesday, shows the company sold 4.8 million Macs –up 9 percent from the year-ago quarter and up 5 percent from the second quarter, setting a new third quarter record.

These results are notable when taking into account that, according to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the overall PC market has contracted by 12 percent compared to the same period last year.

Third quarter Mac sales were likely impacted positively by Apple’s new Retina MacBook, updated 15-inch MacBook Pros and 27-inch iMacs.

Roman Foeckl, CEO of CoSoSys Ltd., a provider of enterprise security solutions for Apple devices, sees Apple’s Q3 Mac sales as proof of the growth potential of Mac computers in the home and enterprise.

Speaking about enterprise demand in an email statement, Foeckl said, “The strong growth of Macs we see in this quarter’s announcement is driven by the increased adoption of Macs by businesses and large enterprises, even one-time rivals, such as IBM.”

Foeckl is of course referring to IBM’s announcement in May that it would give employees a choice between a PC or Mac computer.

“Since many IBM employees are already using an iOS device, and probably using a Mac in their home,” continues Foeckl “it’s not unrealistic to think that over the next 12 to 18 months, about a quarter of the company’s employee computers get replaced by Macs. That is a staggering 60 to 90 thousand computers that might be Macs in just one large enterprise.”

Meanwhile, iPad sales for Q3 were more or less in line with analyst expectations, but unit sales fell to a four-year low at just 10.9 million units. This represents an 18 percent year-over-year decline and a 13 percent drop from Q2.

Despite iPad sales figures declining for several quarters, Apple CEO Tim Cook says he remains “bullish on iPad.” He added that “The consumer upgrade cycle will come for iPad, he says. He thinks so cause the usage stats are there. People haven’t forgotten it.”

Adding to this, Apple CFO Luca Maestri says Apple has “momentum in enterprise” with iPad, likely referring to Apple’s partnership with IBM on enterprise iOS apps.

Apple has included multitasking capabilities for iPad in its upcoming release of iOS 9, which may spark renewed interest among power iPad users, and the company is rumored to have a new 12.9-inch ‘iPad Pro’ in the works.

Image credit: FirmBee via pixabay.com