If you want to talk notebook sales, don’t forget the tablet devices, and if you’re going to do that you’ll find that Apple is the world’s #3 notebook vendor. Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore issued a research note where he advised his clients to start thinking in just those terms.
Mr. Whitmore also told clients that Apple’s iPad is cannibalizing notebook sales, but that this cannibalization is taking place in the PC space, not from Apple’s own laptop line. In other words, Apple’s laptop sales grew even as the iPad hit the market like the PC industry’s worst nightmare.
“Our retail checks suggest this share shift continues in July,”Mr. Whitmore wrote, according to coverage of the research note by Fortune, “where the iPad is directly cannibalizing demand for other vendors’ NB products. Remarkably, Apple’s traditional MacBook business posted accelerated unit growth on a Y/Y basis in 2Q despite the launch of the iPad while every other Top 5 vendor slowed.”
When you do combine tablet sales with notebook sales, Apple leaps into the top three portable computer makers, pushing Dell into the #4 position. In the chart below, Mr. Whitmore took IDC’s market share numbers for the June 2010 quarter, and added in Apple’s iPad sales to the company’s sales of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. HP still holds the top slot, while Acer is #2.
Fortune has additional graphs that show market share growth, with Apple crushing the competition in those terms.
Shares of AAPL closed higher Tuesday at US$261.93, a gain of +0.080 (+0.03%), on light volume of 14.9 million shares trading hands.
*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.