Apple sold 3.47 million Macs and 3.27 million iPads worldwide in the
June quarter, for what should be 8.0% of the PC market (compared to 3.5%
in the March quarter). According to Mikako Kitagawa,
Principal Analyst, Gartner, "The consumer PC market registered
double-digit shipment growth, but consumer mobile shipment growth
slowed. This was due in part to slower growth of mini-notebooks," and
"surging popularity of Apple's iPad temporarily cannibalized
mini-notebooks, as well as consumer notebook sales to some degree".
In other words, analysts - as well as many buyers - look on the iPad
as replacing another mobile computer. Yet the iPad is excluded from PC
sales figures, which, according to IDC, include "Desktops, Portables,
Mini Notebooks and do not include handhelds and x86 Servers". IDC
currently classifies the iPad as a "media tablet", not a tablet PC.
Calling the iPad with its 9.7" screen and 1.5 pounds a handheld is a
bit of a stretch, which is why Apple's ads and the Steve Jobs keynote
had everyone sitting comfortably or lazing while "touching". How Web
consumers use the iPad differs little from how they would have used a
laptop or netbook.
Pricing too - $499 to $829 - is in the Windows laptop range.
There is no good reason to exclude the iPad from PC sales
reports.
If the iPad Is a PC...
If we take a generous view, this exclusion is temporary while
Gartner and IDC find a way to get sufficiently accurate results to
analyze and make predictions - and while PC manufacturers prepare their
"iPad killers". The iPad is still available in only a few countries,
and the main screen supplier, LG, doesn't expect to catch up with
production until next year, so supply won't match demand until
then.
However, since a substantial part of Gartner and IDC revenue comes
from market analysis and selling reports, keeping tablets as a separate
category helps their bottom line. Will this make these quarterly
updates the kind of report that PC manufacturers don't want to pay
for?
It's disruption time again. It's bad enough that Apple adds a little
to its PC market share quarter by quarter by selling those highly
profitable $1,000-plus computers, but seeing Apple double market share
in a single quarter by selling tablets - a type of computer that Bill
Gates publicised as the future
so many years ago - could make shareholders question management's
competence. All PC manufacturers are under pressure to respond
effectively, but until they can, they can hope that this little problem
doesn't get too visible.
Apple's Worldwide Market Share
When iPad sales are added in, Apple moves from the "others" category
and takes fifth place worldwide from Asus and Toshiba, as they each
sold around 2.5 million less PCs. Using Gartner estimates for worldwide
PC sales for the June quarter with Apple's Mac plus iPad figures from
last week:
| Company |
PCs shipped
(in thousands) |
Market share |
| HP |
14,455.2 |
17.2% |
| Acer |
10,796.0 |
12.8% |
| Dell |
10,283.2 |
12.2% |
| Lenovo |
8,310.8 |
9.9% |
| Apple |
6,742.0 |
8.0% |
| Total incl. iPads |
84,137.2 |
|
Apple at Home
The change to the US figures is even more marked. The US had a full
quarter of iPad sales and passed the million unit mark a month before
it went on sale elsewhere. On May 28, it was launched in another nine
countries and sales passed 2 million. If only half of the sales after
that first million were in America, Apple had US sales of 2.1 million
iPads and moves up from fourth place just above Toshiba to a strong
thirrd place, a million behind HP.
IDC US Sales Estimates Adjusted for iPads
Previous market share in parentheses.
| Company |
PCs shipped
(in thousands) |
Market share |
| HP |
4,721 |
23.1% (25.7%) |
| Dell |
4,408 |
21.5% (24.4%) |
| Apple |
3,718 |
18.2% (8.6%) |
| Acer |
2,028 |
9.9% (11.0%) |
| Toshiba |
1,560 |
7.6% (8.5%) |
| Total incl. iPads |
84,137.2 |
|
For the September quarter, Apple has given a revenue estimate of
$18bn, and its estimates are nearly always low. This increase of at
least $2.3bn will come from increased sales for the iPhone 4, iPad, and
the back-to-school Mac promotion, which has always been most successful
in America.
If sales go at least as well as Apple expects, it should be
challenging Dell and HP for first place in the US, something that
hasn't happened since the IBM's PCs outsold
the Apple II.* 
