Mac market growth continues, narrows competitive gap

Industry analyst firm Gartner unveiled new numbers Tuesday that show Apple maintaining its third place in terms of overall US PC vendor shipments, as well as growing its market share substantially. The report shows that Apple saw almost 30-percent year-over-year growth, moving its marketshare from 7.7-percent to 9.5 percent, widening the gap between it and Acer. HP and Dell's market share remained relatively unchanged, allowing Apple to close in further on its competition.

Apple's third quarter 2007 statement saw 1.64 million Macs, up from 1.27 million the year before, switching places with Acer who shipped 1.38 million computers last year, only to ship 1.54 million this year.

Gartner expects Apple to maintain steady growth in the education and home markets, while market leaders Dell and HP are experiencing difficulties with demand. Also notable is that Apple's market has continued to grow, despite overall decreased PC expenditures.

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