U.S. computer sales were somewhat lackluster during the past three months, unless you're talking about Macs.
According to the Quarterly PC Tracker Survey released by IDC today, Apple shipped 1.99 million Macs in the U.S. during the third quarter of 2010. That's good for 10.6% of the 18.9 million PCs shipped in the U.S., putting Apple's share at its highest in the U.S. in the company's history, according to IDC.
Although Apple is still trailing Hewlett-Packard and its 24.3% share and Dell's 23.1% share, both of those companies' shipments remained relatively stagnant over the last year while Apple saw its shipments grow 24% as compared to the same quarter in 2009.
And it's not just the sales growth of HP and Dell it's besting: the entire U.S. PC market during the third quarter grew just 3.8% from a year ago (estimates forecast 11%), meaning Apple shipments of Macs grew at eight times the rate of everyone else. It's fairly remarkable considering the lingering weakness in the economy and the company's computers, whether justified or not, have been dubbed as '' too expensive'' by many.
So why is Apple doing so well selling computers now? IDC analyst David Daoud says the iPad may actually be one of the reasons.
"It is very possible that the iPad's marketing right now is impacting [Apple's Mac] business as a halo effect, just like we saw several years ago with the iPod," he said. "The momentum went on with the iPhone, now it appears the iPad is playing a similar role, stimulating sales across its product line."
Tech Insider
