IDC: Apple's Mac share in US increases 32%

Apple in the December quarter saw its share of the US PC market increase by more than 30 percent, according to preliminary IDC numbers. Apple was the No. 4 PC vendor in the US during the December/holiday quarter, achieving a 4.7 percent share of the PC market with 808,000 units shipped. During the same quarter in 2005, the company 614,000 Macs for a 3.6 percent market share. Earlier today, PiperJaffray noted that Apple's worldwide marketshare declined sequentially 2.8 percent to 2.4 percent based on preliminary IDC numbers (worldwide numbers provided to MacNN were limited to the top 5 PC vendors, which did not include Apple). In the US, Dell was the market leader with nearly 28 percent market share (4.8 million units), while HP and Gateway took the number 2 and 3 positions with 24 percent (4.1 million) and 6.6 percent (1.1 million) market share, respectively. Apple, however, was not among the top 5 worldwide PC vendors which included Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Toshiba.

HP, Acer, Toshiba, and Apple benefited from a combination of strong retail and consumer sales, portable PC adoption (notably in the consumer segment), and aggressive pricing, according to IDC, but the domestic market continued to be slow, as consumer demand remained weak and commercial demand slowed considerably.

"The U.S. market displayed an unseasonably weak performance, largely attributed to poor commercial demand, affecting vendors such as Dell and Lenovo," said David Daoud, manager of Personal Computing and PC Tracker Programs at IDC "However, the consumer notebook market was solid, essentially benefiting vendors active in the retail sector. The channels were also relatively healthy, taking advantage of low component prices and healthy demand in the SMB segment."

IDC data include shipments to distribution channels and end users and include desktop, notebooks, ultra-portable, and servers.

For the entire year, Apple also saw a gain of 22 percent in market share, but remained the No 4 PC vendor behind Dell, HP, and Gateway. The company shipped 3.1 million Macs during 2006, achieving a 4.7 percent share of the PC market in the US. In 2005, the company only shipped 2.6 million Macs for US market share of 4.0 percent. Apple share gains in 2006 were just below No. 5 Toshiba which gained slightly more than 22 percent during 2006 (compared to 2005).

"Apple saw another quarter of very solid growth as the company combined new portable products with strong retail sales and positive press following a successful transition to Intel processors," IDC said. "Worldwide and U.S. shipments were each up roughly 30 percent year on year. The company also continues to benefit from its music business and new developments such as the iPhone will not only drive more positive press and buyer interest, but further expand the number of people using at least one Apple product who may come into the Apple fold."

Filed under: Apple