Apple’s incredible success with the iPhone and iPad has left many to wonder whether they can also continue to recreate their success in the PC sector. Quarterly reports issued from Gartner and IDC today suggest that Apple indeed has the capacity to grow and has jumped to third place in US PC market share.
As reported by MacRumors, Apple grabbed 10.7% of the US PC market share, up from 8.5% in the prior-year quarter. This represents a jump from fifth to third place in one year. Despite the increase in market share, both IDC and Gartner reported that overall US shipments decreased with Gartner attributing the decrease to increased iPad sales:
“Given the hype around media tablets such as the iPad, retailers were very conservative in placing orders for PCs. Instead, they wanted to secure space for media tablets. Some PC vendors had to lower their inventory through promotions, while others slimmed their product lines at retailers,” [Gartner analyst Mikako] Kitagawa said.
With the rise in popularity of tablets since the introduction of the iPad in 2010, the PC industry’s potential for growth looks to be shaky at best. Apple has been able to defy the odds by growing in the PC segment and should continue to see high growth later this year with the introduction of Sandy Bridge-based versions of their popular Macbook Air laptops.
