According to Gartner Inc.'s preliminary Q3 report on worldwide PC shipments, Apple's U.S. market share has nearly reached double-digits, at 9.5%, up from 7.7% last year (a 29.4% increase). Meanwhile, worldwide shipments reached 80.6 million units in the quarter, a 15% increase from last year.
Dell and HP maintained their #1 and #2 rankings, respectively, while Apple was at #3. And Apple's year-over-year growth rate continued to strongly outpace the U.S. average -- which Gartner pegged at 4.6%.
In terms of worldwide shipments, Apple still hasn't managed to break into the top 5, seeing itself relegated to the Other category. HP continues to hold the #1 slot worldwide, over Dell.
Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner's Client Computing Markets group said:
"The mini-notebook segment experienced strong growth in the global PC, led by robust growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. In the North America market, the economic crunch created more interest in the sub $500 segment. Because the mini-notebook is still a new segment, it is too early to determine if the emerging segment created new market opportunities, or if it cannibalized lower priced systems."
However, bad news for Apple (perhaps). The title of the report emphasized that netbooks were a strong component of the worldwide growth in PC sales. This fact wasn't lost on Kitagawa, who said:
"Even though Apple lowered prices yesterday, it's still above other laptops in the U.S. Netbooks' prices are even lower, less than $500, and averaging $349-399. That's bringing down the average selling price. I don't know how Apple can play there."
IDC's numbers were similar to Garter's, pegging Apple's U.S. share at 9.1%, up from 7.3%, a growth of 32.0% year-over-year. They also noted the proliferation of netbooks.
But Apple has always bold at a premium to other hardware. Microsoft, in fact, tried to offset Apple's notebook event, calling the premium an "Apple tax." So does a higher price point really matter for Apple?
Perhaps not so much in the past, but with the current economic outlook, perhaps now, yes. Or maybe that Apple netbook is just sitting up there as the next bright idea from Jobs and company.
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