If you count the iPad as a notebook (and why shouldn’t you since many consider it a netbook replacement?), Apple is now the number three computer vendor for portables, passing Asus, Lenova, Toshiba and, yes, Dell.
As reported by “Fortune” (http://macosg.me/2/mn), on Friday Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore issued a report in which he opined that investors will increasing include tablet computers when assessing market share trends. With that in mind, and starting with IDC’s global portable computing market share survey for the June 2010 quarter, he has redrawn Apple’s share, adding the 3.27 million iPads the company sold in the quarter to its 2.47 million MacBooks and MacBook Pros.
When including the iPad as part of the notebook market, Apple moved ahead of Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell in terms of global unit share. Viewed this way, Apple goes from being number seven in the worldwide portable computer market to number three, trailing only Hewlett Packard and Acer.
“Our retail checks suggest this share shift continues in July, where the iPad is directly cannibalizing demand for other vendors’ notebook products,” Whitmore says. “Remarkably, Apple’s traditional MacBook business posted accelerated unit growth on a year-to-year basis in 2Q despite the launch of the iPad while every other Top 5 vendor slowed.”
