Apple No. 2 behind Dell

Apple was the for the first time, according to Investor's Business Daily. It was the choice of 8% of likely buyers, ahead of Sony, who at No. 3 with 6% of likely buyers, a new high for the company. Dell, however, led all companies by a wide margin, as it was the preferred brand of over 50% of PC buyers: "Apple is riding a huge wave of publicity and media attention surrounding strong sales of its iPod portable music players. That success might be rubbing off on its PC business, says Roger Kay, an analyst with International Data Corp. Consumers might be looking to extend their iPod experience to Apple's Macintosh computers."

The article also notes that Apple was No. 7 seller of PCs to the U.S. home market in 2003 with a 3.2% market share, just behind Sony who was at No. 6 with 3.5%. Dell and HP led that category, respectively, with 27% market share and 25.9% market share.

by MacNN Staff