Apple No. 5 in 2003

Apple finished 2003 as the No. 5 vendor in PC shipments with a US market share of 3.2% for 2003; however, it was not among the top 5 US vendors in the fourth quarter of 2003 or the top 5 vendors in worldwide sales during the entire 2003, according to IDC data. Apple last year shipped 1,675,000 units compared with 1,679,000 in 2002, a 0.2% decrease from the year ago compared with a 10.8% increase in the overall sales experienced by the industry. IDC reports that worldwide PC shipments grew 15.2% year-on-year to 44.6 million units.

Echoing sentiments revealed in Apple's , IDC said that strong growth in Europe and sustained notebook demand were key sources of growth and that on an annual basis, shipment growth moved into double digits for the first time since 2000. Shipments rose to a record 152.6 million on growth of 11.4%. However, Apple was not able to achieve the same type of growth throughout 2003. IDC said, "product refreshes in the fourth quarter helped lift growth to double digits [in the fourth quarter], but missed Apple's key third quarter client base and shipments were down a hair annually."



HP saw a 21% year-over-year increase in the fourth quarter of 2003, allowing it to capture the top PC vendor spot with 16.9% market share in the US. On HP's heels, Dell also achieved record volumes with 20% growth and captured 16.3% market share during the quarter. IBM, Fujitsu and Toshiba rounded out the top 5 PC vendors in the fourth quarter of 2003. The same 5 vendors rounded out the top 5 vendors in worldwide shipments in both Q4 2003 and overall 2003 shipments.

by MacNN Staff