Early Snow Leopard Sales More Than Double Those of Leopard

According to market research firm NPD, Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard has seen very strong sales thus far, having sold more than twice as many copies during its first two weeks on the market as Mac OS X Leopard did in late 2007. Early sales of Snow Leopard also exceed those of 2005's Mac OS X Tiger by nearly four times.

"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.

The report notes that Snow Leopard generated significant sales momentum, with sales dropping only 25% from week 1 to week 2. Leopard and Tiger reportedly experienced approximately 60% drops in sales numbers in their second weeks on the market.

Research analyst Gene Munster had previously estimated that Apple would sell approximately five million copies of Snow Leopard during its launch quarter, which ends later this month. Given that Apple sold over two million copies of Leopard in just its first weekend, NPD's data suggests that Apple should easily reach Munster's target.