When you are listening to PC manufacturers and analysts, there is a certain pessimism in the air that the market is becoming increasingly vulnerable and may not be able to sustain its growth. At least in 2007 and especially in the fourth quarter of last year, all major PC manufacturers showed healthy growth rates, deep in the double-digit range. Especially Apple was able to post stunning growth rates in its unit shipments.

The overall increase in unit shipments for the PC industry in Q4 2007 was 14.1%, but all of the world’s six largest manufacturers were able to achieve numbers significantly higher than that. HP, in position one, posted a growth of 25.5%, Dell bounced back to 17.4%, Acer (thanks to the acquisition of Gateway) saw a 25.0% increase, Lenovo 21.3% and Toshiba 25.3%.

Apple remains the shining star at #6 in the list with 39.3% shipment growth. According to iSuppli, Apple shipped 2.2 million PCs in the fourth quarter, up from about 1.6 million a year earlier. Despite its sharp growth, however, Apple has not increased its market share by much – it is still estimated to hold about 2.9%, which is just about in line with what it has been for several years. That is, of course, because the strong percentage growth is a drop in the bucket when it comes to the shipments numbers of the industry: HP was able to increase its shipments by almost 3 million units to 14.5 million, Dell gained more than 1.6 million to 11.3 million and Acer jumped by more than 1.5 million to 7.2 million units.

iSuppli estimated that about 76.2 million PCs were shipped in Q4 2007 and 268.4 million over the course of the entire year.

Apple is Apple. Dell, Gateway, Acer, Toshiba, HP e...

Mar 05, 2008 14:40     

Apple is Apple. Dell, Gateway, Acer, Toshiba, HP ect... are all Microsoft based. So, you would have to combine the shipment growth of all PC manfactures to be accurate. And if you do, Apple can't even compaire to the shipment growth of PC based companies. Misleading Apple bias article.
none report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

The key word is SHIPPED...

Mar 05, 2008 18:53     

im here in my best buy store and i sell all those brands of computers and I can hardly keep stock of HP's for example. Im typing this on a MAC and below me are at least 15 iMac's. Not sold... no real interest. Pay attention to the fact that it says SHIPPED not SOLD.
cabose369 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

also don't forget enthusiasts

Mar 05, 2008 19:05     

I never approach any PC builder or a brand when it comes to my own PC. I buy parts from the cheapest dealers and build it by my self. And if you come to ASIA, its the popular method of getting done the rig you want.
alien report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

what bout the businesses too..

Mar 06, 2008 05:41     

most businesses have PC's too .. cause lets face it most people don't know how to use computers so if companys gave there workers mac's they'll be even more lost. So big companys stick with PC's.
Andrew report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Let's do some math.

Mar 07, 2008 23:58     

Apple owns a tiny 6% of the world wide computer market, and a 39.3% of this 6%... man it's too small, I can't count... Why am I even bothering this...
Doug_d report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Indeed, lets do some math

Mar 17, 2008 16:46     

It doesn't matter how small they are in comparison to PC makers, a 39.3% increase in shipments is still an accomplishment for the company. And in response to the poster who said "The key word is SHIPPED...", those computers have to go somewhere. Is it a good business move for a businesses to buy an additional 2.2 million computers if they aren't selling? Where would the companies put them all? Of course PCs are going to sell better than Macs, that comes with being in the mainstream. But the progress of Apple is worth acknowledging.

Max2040 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0