Should the iPad count as a mobile computer? Yes!

Recently, “ZDNet” asked, “Should the iPad count as a mobile PC? And I say “certainly.”

After all, DisplaySearch rightfully put the Apple tablet in the computerC category with its Monday release of the “Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report “(http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/displaysearch/hs.xsl/101206_ipad_effect_continues_as_apple_gains_market_share_in_developed_regions.asp). Do so and Apple is the number one personal computer maker in the U.S. and number three globally.

“A lack of competitive tablet PC products from other brands continues to drive Apple’s market share in the mobile PC segment,” says Chris Connery, vice president of Large Format Displays at DisplaySearch.

Why shouldn’t the iPad be considered a personal computer? iOS is a mobile version of Mac OS X, a computer operating system. It can be used for media consumption and content creation just as personal computers can (though it’s, admittedly better at the former).

Sure, it’s not a Mac, but it is a computer. So put it in that category and give Apple its proper ranking among computer makers.

— Dennis Sellers