Appleis U.S. market share of total PC sales has surged from 6.2 percent a year ago to 8.1 percent in 3Q07, according to a recent report from Gartner published Wednesday. Apple is now solidly in third place in U.S. sales and is pulling away from Toshiba in 4th. In worldwide sales, Apple remains out of the top five.

According to the report, obtained by TMO, in the United States, mobile PC growth continued to lead the overall growth. "For the first time, mobile PC unit volume exceeded desk-based PC unit volume in the third quarter of 2007. However, both the home and professional markets registered weaker-than-expected growth," the report noted.

"Economic uncertainty around the subprime mortgage lending and lower consumer confidence may have played a role in challenges vendors faced in the U.S. market," said Ms. Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner analyst. "The third quarter is typically a consumer quarter, driven by back-to-school sales. However, the preliminary results show that back-to-school sales were softer than expected in the U.S. market."

The charts below are for total PC sales in thousands of units.

Worldwide, numbers were not published for Apple, and HP continued to hold the lead. Other estimates place Appleis worldwide market share at less than 3 percent.

Notable is Appleis U.S. market share growth, 37 percent, far more than the year-over-year growth of the other PC vendors.

Gartner noted that the results are preliminary and final statistics will be available to clients of Gartneris PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program.