Apple snags 6.6% share of US PC market in first quarter

[AppleInsider]

Mac maker Apple Inc. enjoyed strong retail sales during the first calendar quarter of 2008, boosting its share of the US personal computer market above 6 percent, according to a report released Wednesday by market research firm Gartner.

Stateside

In total, the Cupertino-based company is said to have shipped over 1.01 million systems nationally, representing 32.5 percent growth and a 6.6 percent share of the US PC market, up from 762,000 systems and 5.2 percent share during the same three-month period last year.

In addition to its strong retail performance, there were indications that Apple showed decent growth in the professional market as well, Gartner said.

In total, US PC shipments reached 15.2 million units in the first quarter of 2008, just a 3 percent increase from the same period last year as consumers clamped down on spending over concerns of a recession and weakening global economy.

"Indications are that the market felt the squeeze in the second half of the quarter," said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner’s Client Computing Markets group. "The U.S. market is softening and this can potentially hasten downward price pressure and further intensify competition for the rest of 2008."
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One bright spot was notebook systems, which drove the modest level of PC growth. “Despite declining consumer confidence, U.S. consumers did not put off mobile PC purchases as evidenced by solid mobile growth," Kitagawa said. "This growth was stimulated in part by aggressive price cuts.”
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In terms of Apple's competitors, Dell extended its lead in the U.S. with its market share reaching 31.4 percent on sales of 4.77 million systems, up from 27.9 percent and 4.126 million systems during the first quarter of 2007.

Meanwhile, HP maintained its No. 2 spot but registered its lowest year-on-year growth (-0.2 percent) since the Compaq merger in 2003. Slightly ahead of Apple in the third place slot was Acer, which shipped 1.389 million systems for a 9.1 percent share of the market, representing an 18.3 percent decline from 2007.

Worldwide

Apple did not place within the top five PC makers worldwide, which means its share fell below the 4.3 percent registered by Toshiba.



In the No. 1 spot was Hewlett-Packard, which extended its lead during the first quarter as its worldwide share increased to 18.3 percent on 17.5 percent growth, up from a 17.5 percent share a year ago. At the same time, Dell registered its second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth (21.8 percent), garnering the company a 14.9 percent share. Acer and Toshiba followed with a 9.5 percent and 6.7 percent share, respectively.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[wilco]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPv8P...ist.salon.com/

[MacTel]

I'd bet total shipments of systems worldwide will be around 2.3 million. Or at least it would be nice if they were.

[bsenka]

Didn't we have a story posted here on Ai that claimed Apple's recent market share was much higher than this?

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by bsenka

Didn't we have a story posted here on Ai that claimed Apple's recent market share was much higher than this?

That was share of retail sales only. This is for all sales - retail, direct, etc.

[aplnub]

Originally Posted by bsenka

Didn't we have a story posted here on Ai that claimed Apple's recent market share was much higher than this?

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...iday_2007.html

In that story AI reported Apple claiming 6% so maybe you are getting it confused with the Safari or iPhone market share for last quarter?

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by aplnub

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...iday_2007.html

In that story AI reported Apple claiming 6% so maybe you are getting it confused with the Safari or iPhone market share for last quarter?

I think he was recalling this story, which quotes 14%. As I said, the number is higher as that is for retail only.

[anantksundaram]

Slowly and steadily, ever upward........ perfect.

[bsenka]

Originally Posted by Mr. H

I think he was recalling this story, which quotes 14%. As I said, the number is higher as that is for retail only.

Thanks, that's the one I was thinking of. Forgot that was retail only.

[satchmo]

Imagine what their market share could be if they actually had a mid-priced headless Mac?

[skottichan]

Originally Posted by wilco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPv8P...ist.salon.com/

I hate you so hard...


You owe me those 3 minutes of my life back

[Charko]

If my memory serves me well, Apple usually sells about 40% of its Macs in the U.S. and about 60% abroad.
If it's the same in this quarter, that means:

40% = 1,000,000
60% = 1,500,000

That's two and a half million which is "insanely great".

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by Charko

If my memory serves me well, Apple usually sells about 40% of its Macs in the U.S. and about 60% abroad.
If it's the same in this quarter, that means:

40% = 1,000,000
60% = 1,500,000

That's two and a half million which is "insanely great".

Unfortunately, you've got it backwards. Only about 43% of Apple's sales are outside the U.S.

Given that the U.S. is the third largest computer market (behind EMEA and ASIA), I think it's about time Apple made a real effort to do something about this. Their international sales should be at least 70%.

[johnnyapple]

According to this data (arguably not always accurate) Apple's Mac accounted for 248,000 of the total 445,000 unit growth - or 56%