Apple was the world ’s third - largest microcomputer seller during the fourth quarter last year if iPad shipments are included , research firm Canalys tell in a study released Wednesday .
With iPads included , Apple ’s oecumenical PC consignment grew 241 percent , which put the caller in third shoes behind Hewlett - Packard and Acer , Canalys said . Apple held a 10.8 percent microcomputer market share with 11.5 million PC units shipped and was neck opening - and - cervix with Dell , which also held a 10.8 percent market place portion with 11.4 million social unit shipped .
Research firms IDC and Gartner have not included tablets in their worldwide microcomputer shipment number , and their quarterly subject area have not list Apple as one of the world ’s top five PC vendors . But Canalys said that tablets , just like netbooks , are becoming popular enough that they require to be included in PC shipment numbers .
planetary PC load during the fourth quarter develop by 19.2 percent to 105.8 million whole , Canalys said . In addition to strong iPad sales , Apple also recorded potent Mac sales , which helped push the troupe into the third dapple .
Whenreporting fiscal resultslast week , Apple said it sell 7.33 million iPads during the first fiscal fourth part for 2011 , ending on Dec. 25 , compared to 4.19 million tablets for the fourth fiscal poop of 2010 . The company also sold 4.13 million Macs during the first fiscal tail , a 23 per centum yr - over - year gain .
Apple is do good from tablets just like Acer , Asus and Samsung do good from netbooks a few years ago , said Daryl Chiam , senior psychoanalyst at Canalys .
Acerovertook Dell as the world ’s second - largest personal computer vendorduring the third fourth part of 2009 , partly due to growing impulse in netbook shipments , according to IDC . At the metre , Acer was the world ’s largest netbook seller , while netbooks were a small portion of Dell ’s PC cargo .
Apple dominates the tab market with the iPad , but there is increase competition coming from Samsung ’s Galaxy Tab . Apple could face more competition in the next few months from Hewlett - Packard , Research In Motion , Dell , Acer , Asus and Motorola , which are all due to release tablets soon . More than 100 tablet were announced at the recent Consumer Electronics Show , many with Google ’s Android 3.0 operating organization , which is codification - named Honeycomb .
The top two PC makers , HP and Acer , recorded individual - digit personal computer increase rates during the 4th quarter last year , consort to Canalys . HP ship 18.7 million personal computer worldwide , growing by only 2.9 pct year over class and have a 17.7 pct market share . Acer fared well , with loading growing by 8.8 percent to 13.6 million unit , a 12.8 percent market share .
