Apple passes HP as top PC maker when counting iPad sales
New data released on Monday by market analyst Canalys shows that Apple's iPad was instrumental to an overall growth in the client PC market for Q4 2011, as excluding the tablet's sales numbers would see the sector posting a net loss.
Record-setting earnings for the December quarter put Apple ahead of HP as the world's number one PC vendor, with the company's combined sales of 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs accounting for 17 percent of the total 120 million PC shipments worldwide.
Canalys notes that desktop, netbook, notebook and tablet sales grew 16 percent from the year ago quarter, however if iPads are not included as PCs, that number would drop to negative 0.4 percent.
PC sales were crippled during the holiday season due to a flood in Thailand that impacted hard drive manufacturers, with the effects of the disaster expected to carry on into the first half of 2012.
Lenovo was the only top-five PC maker besides Apple to increase its market share, while Acer, Dell and HP all posted losses year-to-year. In comparison, the Cupertino, Calif., company gained six points over its performance during the same quarter in 2010.
Apple's top performance was followed by HP, Lenovo, Dell and Acer, respectively.
Rise of the Tablet
Last year was said to be "The Year of the Tablet," and Apple CEO Tim Cook quipped during the company's earnings conference call that he thinks "most people would agree, it was the year of the iPad for the second year in a row."
Tablet PCs are becoming an increasingly attractive option to traditional computers, and the mobile devices accounted for 22 percent of total PC shipments during the fourth quarter of 2011. Behind the iPad's booming sales was Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble's Nook Tablet, which garnered those vendors second and fifth place spots in the tablet market, respectively.
“Currently, HP is pursuing a Windows strategy for its pad portfolio, producing enterprise-focused products, such as the recently launched Slate 2, until the launch of Windows 8,” said Canalys Analyst Tim Coulling. “However, questions remain over Microsoft’s entry into the consumer pad space. While early demonstrations of the Window 8 operating system seem promising, Microsoft must focus its efforts on creating an intuitive user experience that is far less resource intensive.”
With the inclusion of tablets, PC markets grew in all regions during the last quarter, but not including the devices, shipments in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America showed decline as a weak demand in Western Europe and the U.S. bucked the usually positive holiday sales trend.
The Asia Pacific and Latin America regions continued to rise as a burgeoning middle class begins to adopt mobile computing, and even managed a one percent increase in notebook sales.
Apple is actively making inroads in Asia with new stores and product launches, and has been rumored to have hired a dedicated region chief for Latin America.
Comments
Is it fair to count post-pc devices... just to prop up pc device sales?
Is it fair to count post-pc devices... just to prop up pc device sales?
Only if it drives Brand recognition for the analyst, and help increase his appl share returns.
Is it fair to count post-pc devices... just to prop up pc device sales?
Is the PC category label even relevant anymore? That's the question we should be asking.
Is it fair to count post-pc devices... just to prop up pc device sales?
You think it's bad now... just wait until next year!
Amazon will have sold Kindle Fire's in the millions. They might have a Fire v2 by then and a couple of different form factors.
Windows 8 will be out running the same apps on ARM/x86 on a bunch of different form factors (e.g. desktops, notebooks, tablets and notebooks that convert to tablets) but ARM devices won't run traditional x86 desktop apps.
So where the heck will all of these fit in?
If the iPad is to be counted as a "PC" then why not other tablets (like the Fire)? If the Fire isn't a "PC" and the iPad is, then why????
What counts as a "post PC" device? What about Windows 8 running on iPad-like ARM hardware? Is that "PC" or "post PC"?
What about an x86 Windows 8 tablet that can dock to a keyboard to form an Ultrabook? Is that "PC", "post PC" or something in between?
This headline should drive enough people crazy as it is.
"should we now include my watch as a pc?!"
"my stove must be a pc!!"
"soon Amazon will be the biggest pc maker!!!!!!"
etc.
And I'm sure if you counted Android it would beat many PC makers as well...But they aren't full fledged computers. Pointless comparison imo. Heck, why not throw TI calculators into the mix.
Looks like you flunked CS 101.
Is it fair to count post-pc devices... just to prop up pc device sales?
Well, regarding the argument of what comprises a 'personal computer'... The beauty is that each of us gets to define 'personal' -- and everybody wins.
When the iPad first arrived running iOS 3 and had no multi-tasking as well as few apps that took advantage of the device's size, it felt more like a big phone than a small computer to a lot of people. Over time though, as more apps have been added and people have managed to find more and more uses for it, it has started to heavily erode the role of traditional PCs.
A large number of people in the world could get by with only an iPad - probably more people than those who couldn't - and this is especially true with the PC-free setup in iOS 5 as you can buy an iOS device and set it up without having a computer.
In terms of performance, I don't think there's any question that it can be classed as a computer - an iPad 2 is faster than a G4 Powerbook, even in graphics performance and certainly in storage performance. One aspect of iOS devices that impresses me is that there is no such thing as a wait symbol - the symbols over the years we have grown to hate - the hour glass, the beachball; there are no error reports popping up, no kernel panics. It's all just real-time and taking away all those negative aspects makes the experience so much better.
The only sticking point really is when it comes to the flexibility of iOS. I don't personally feel like I could own an iOS device exclusively and feel in control of my data and system.
- If my device messed up, I wouldn't know how to recover it without using a 'PC'
- I can't make a tangible backup of all my data without using a 'PC', the cloud is a no-go. iPad should support Time Machine drives with snapshots
- I can't copy data directly to/from my device without using a 'PC'
Until I have that level of control, I don't feel like I could be free from a traditional PC, which would lead me to personally not regard it as one. I would however acknowledge that a great number of people don't care about their data and only really need a cloud connection. For those people, a device that doesn't require a PC to setup and that performs adequately is their PC.
I believe over time, iOS will become unconstrained enough to use as a desktop OS (it will be their desktop OS) and as soon as that switch is flipped, it will be clear that this has been Apple's way of winning the OS war after all.
And I'm sure if you counted Android it would beat many PC makers as well...But they aren't full fledged computers. Pointless comparison imo. Heck, why not throw TI calculators into the mix.
Not if we are counting tablets - Android tablets aren't doing all that well. I don't see people sitting for hours browsing and interacting with smartphones. Typical usage is short bursts of time when out and about so I'd say tablets mainly count against PCs.