Christian Chabot
Christian Chabot

For years, Tableau Software employees have fielded questions from companies and individuals asking when a Mac version of the data visualization software would be coming. The Seattle company always deflected those questions, too busy focusing on bigger opportunities.

But not anymore. On a conference call with analysts Tuesday, CEO Christian Chabot noted that a Mac version would be released later this year.

“If you have been studying the Tableau community … year after year, even back before it was fashionable, one of our biggest customer requests was: ‘Hey, where is the Mac version?’ We’d just say it is not a priority, not a priority, not a priority,” said Chabot. “But I am pleased to say, starting some time ago, we did start investing in that direction, and we expect to release that this year.” Tableau demonstrated an early version of the Mac product at the company’s customer conference last year.

“We don’t expect some sudden big surge from that release. It is not like there is some big backlog around it. It is not that type of thing,” he said. “But I would call that a theme, because it will feel different and that is a huge community of people. And there is a lot of excitement in particular in the Tableau community, and we are very excited to add that dimension to our business.”

Talbeau's software for PCs is coming to the Mac this year.
Talbeau’s software for PCs is coming to the Mac this year.

We’ve followed up with Tableau to get more details on when that version might be arriving, and we’ll update as we hear more. UPDATE: A spokeswoman at Tableau said that the Mac version will arrive in the second quarter, alongside the company’s Tableau 8.2 update.

It is amazing to think that Tableau has built a powerful $5 billion market value business, without even thinking about developing for Apple’s Mac environment. The company had a blockbuster 2013, with revenues growing to $232 million. The stock, which debuted on The New York Stock Exchange at $31 per share last May, is now trading at more than $91. It is up 15 percent today on the earnings news, which blew past expectations.

In addition to Tableau for the Mac, Chabot cited the company’s opportunity to expand internationally in yesterday’s conference call. Most global tech companies have non-U.S. revenue of 40 percent to 60 percent. In 2013, revenues for Tableau stood at just over 20 percent.

“Draw a line between where we are now, and that point some number of years from today and you can see that will remain a theme for some years to come,” he said.

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