Apple Climbs To Third Place In US Desktop Market

Gartner and IDC have reported that Apple has climbed to third place in the US desktop market, with a market share of approximately 7.8 to 8.5%. Worldwide, Apple has yet to crack the top 5 spots, but in the USA Apple has finished almost tied for third place with Acer (the new merged Acer-Gateway). Dell retains top spot in the USA with 31.9% of the market, and HP is in second place with 25.3%.

Apple sales are seeing very strong growth in the USA, with a 31% increase year over year. At this rate, the company should easily take a lead ahead of Acer and reach 10% market share sometime this year. Dell and HP are far too dominant for Apple to knock either of them off any time soon, but a 10% market share for Mac OS X in the USA would be significant. Apple also operates at much higher margins than Dell and HP, so as a business it is much more profitable. Apple has also tightly integrated with its applications and online stores, leading to value-add sales across both Mac and PC platforms. The dynamics of the Apple business are thus very different from those other traditional manufacturers, each of whom has been experiencing its own problems in the past few years.

Top PC Manufacturers (USA)

Dell 31.9%
HP 25.3%
Apple 8.5%
Acer / Gateway 8.5%
Toshiba 5.1%