by , 12:40 PM EDT, October 16th, 2008

Apple is maintaining a large double digit growth rate in its Mac sales, is maintaining its #3 position in U.S. market share, and has reached 9.5 percent of U.S. PC Shipments, according to Gartner.

Apple's U.S. market share was 9.5 percent in the Q3, 2008, compared to 7.7 percent a year ago. That's a 29.4 percent growth rate. The average growth rate for HP, Dell, Acer and Toshiba was 6.3 percent.

Source: Gartner

Worldwide, Hewlett-Packard continues to lead Dell with 18.4 percent of the PC market. Apple has not yet broken into the top five with Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba leading. Apple has been right behind Toshiba in other surveys, and analysts expect Apple to ship about 2.7 million total Macs worldwide in (CY) Q3. That would place Apple at about 3.4 percent worldwide.

"... [The] global PC market finally felt the impact from global economic downturn. The U.S. professional market experienced the biggest hit from the economic crunch. The U.S. home market saw definite softness in PC sales after a few quarters of strong growth," Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa reported. "The Asia/Pacific PC market was impacted by a slowdown in China. PC growth in Latin America was slow relative to historical levels, but it was still in line with the forecast."

Source: Gartner

TMO notes as Apple continues to gain market share, especially in the U.S., Microsoft has taken note and has gone on the offensive with its new TV ad campaign and other initiatives, like the Apple Tax campaign.