Canalys, a research company, has reported on worldwide PC shipments for the first quarter of 2011. Apple is now back down to fourth place with 9.5% of the market, even when tablet computers like the iPad are factored in. Apple, in fourth quarter 2010, was ranked third worldwide. It is believed that Apple slipped back to fourth due to slower-than-expected iPad sales at the beginning of this year.
Here’s a lengthy excerpt from the report:
Apple continued with its strategy to dominate the pad market, with the iPad or iPad 2 available in 59 markets by the end of Q1. A combination of strong Q4 sales and the announcement of the iPad 2’s launch across major markets at the end of March contributed to Apple’s iPad shipments being down 31% sequentially. The full impact of the iPad 2 launch will not register until subsequent quarters, as Apple gets the product into the hands of consumers. While pad sales continued to lift Apple’s results, PC vendors with a focus on the consumer netbook and notebook market, such as Acer and Asus, did not fare so well.
First off, they call it the “pad” market which I find unsettling. That aside, if you cound the iPad in with Apple’s growth, they have ballooned over 188% in share year-over-year. But that’s still down 31% from last quarter. The report also notes that 6.4 million “pad” devices were shipped this quarter, with Apple moving 74% of them.
If I’ve said this once, I’ve said it a thousand times. This is not a market share race like the PC market was in the 90s. Apple is extremely profitable because they going after profit share, and not the low-level commodity market. So, their market share may be small, but they make the majority of the money.
Story and chart courtesy of Canalys.
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