iOS devices get all the publicity, but the Mac in going strong. In a note to clients — as reported by “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com) — Needham & Company analyst Charles Wolf says Apple saw its worldwide share of the computer market pass the 5% mark for the first time in 15 years due, mainly, to strong gains in Asia.
Mac sales in the third quarter of 2011 outpaced the overall computer market for the 22nd straight quarter. Apple’s 24.6% growth was much higher than the 5.3% growth in total computer shipments.
Apple reported record Mac sales of 4.89 million for the period. According to Wolf, that was enough to push Apple past the “magic 5% mark,” up from 4.7% globally in June and 4.4% a year ago.
“More impressively, the growth in Mac shipments in the past year represented 20% of the growth in worldwide PC shipments,” he said.
The Mac saw 25.6% growth in the home market and 43.8% in the business market. Unfortunately, in the education market there was only 2.9% Mac growth. Apple probably isn’t too upset, however, as that small growth is attributed to the iPad cannibalizing sales of laptops at schools.
And the future looks rosy. Analysts expect Mac sales to quadruple in China. Twenty-one percent of Chinese consumers want their next computer to be a Mac.
— Dennis Sellers