iPad propels Apple into top-three PC vendor placement
Industry has got to tally tablets, insists researcher
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Apple is the third largest computer maker in the world... if you include the iPad in its sales tally.
So shows Q4 2010 numbers from market watcher Canalys, which put the Mac maker behind HP and Acer with a market share of 10.8 per cent. That's the same as Dell, though a closer look at the figures show Apple shipped 11.5m units to Dell's 11.4m.
HP took 17.7 per cent of the market, Acer 12.8 per cent, according to Canalys - they shipped 18.7m and 13.6m machines, respectively. Lenovo took fifth place with a market share of 9.1 per cent - 9.6m units worth.
All of the major vendors show relatively minor market share fluctuations when Q4 2010 is compared to Q4 2009. Apple is the exception: its share jumped from 3.8 per cent, on the back of shipments of 3.4m Macs.
That makes for a year-on-year increase of 241 per cent.
Apple said last week that it shipped 4.13m Macs in Q4 2010 - equivalent to the first quarter of its 2011 financial year - so that's Mac sales up 21.5 per cent. The remaining Q4 2010 shipments are 7.4m iPads.
Should they be counted? The must, said Canalys, because they're a key product category. It urged vendors to "accept new market realities, by recognising [tablets] as an integral new component of the overall PC landscape.
"Any argument that a pad is not a PC is simply out of sync," said Canalys Senior Analyst Daryl Chiam.
"With screen sizes of seven inches or above, ample processing power, and a growing number of applications, pads offer a computing experience comparable to netbooks. They compete for the same customers and will happily co-exist. As with smart phones, some users will require a physical keyboard, while others will do without."
The question is, will Apple be pushed back again when HP, Acer, Dell and co. release their tablets? ®
COMMENTS
Of course it is a PC
The iPad is indeed a Personal Computer. Have a look in any dictionary and you will find a personal computer (PC) is defined as any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and price make it useful for individuals in contrast to terminals running off a mainframe or mini computer.
Microsoft classes the iPad as a PC as Steve Balmer is on record as stating as do analysts DisplaySearch and Barrons in addition to Canalys. All analysts considers tablet PCs to be Personal Computers and everyone considers tablet PCs like the HP Slate to be direct competitors in the same market as the iPad.
The iPad has a bigger screen than most netbooks which most definitely are classed as PCs and the iPad happily runs powerful word processing, desktop publishing, painting and photo-editing software, spreadsheets, databases and video editing apps in addition to of course email, web browsing and desktop-class games at least on par with the capabilities of netbooks.
You can connect an iPad to a data projector and do powerpoint-compatible slideshows (using Keynote), and now print wirelessly to a growing number of printers.
Many commentators have indicated how the iPad has replaced their notebook PC for a majority of tasks and most analysts are on record as stating that the iPad has cannibalised laptops and netbook sales and you can only "cannibalise" something that is of your own kind.
Some argue that because an iPad needs to be connected to another computer for system updates means it can't be classed as a PC despite the fact that the iPad can download media, apps and other data independently over the air. However this is splitting hairs as you would then have to discount the millions of PCs that are sold as Point of Sale terminals or factory floor boxes completely dependent on a server to function as well.
Yes, the iPad is a PC and Apple is indeed now Number 1 in PC retail computer sales in the USA and number 3 in computer sales worldwide.
As far as whether smartphones are PCs or not, that's when the lines get distinctly blurry. :-)
-Mart
Where's the articles for number 1 and number 2?
Why is it we get an article everytime that Apple get to be number 3 (I'm sure there was a similar article some time ago on some other statistic where they were number 3)? But we don't get articles about the companies being number 1, and number 2 (which is surely more notable). Nor do we get news articles when any other company gets number 3. The same occurs in the mobile market - articles because the Iphone now gets to number 3.
Is number 3 special? Would you report on the Olympics, telling us who made number 3 position in the headlines?
As for definitions, don't Apple insist that Macs aren't PCs, let alone the Ipad? (I have no problem including the Ipad as a PC; the bigger problem is when the Ipad is counted as a mobile platform, but netbooks are ignored, artificially inflating Apple's share significantly.)
If you're going to count the iPad...
.. You may as well count the iPod touch as well..
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