IDC: Apple #3 in U.S. with 10.6% Mac Market Share

Apple was the third largest vendor of personal computers in the U.S. market during the September quarter, with 10.6% market share for its Mac OS X platform. This, according to research firm IDC, which said that Apple’s iPad not only ate into PC netbook sales, it also helped Apple sell more Macs, which combined to push Apple into the highest ranking we’ve covered since 1998.

“Apple’s influence on the PC market continues to grow, particularly in the U.S., as the company’s iPad has had some negative impact on the mininotebook market. But, the halo effect of the device also helped propel Mac sales and moved the company into the number three position in the U.S. market,” said Bob O’Donnell, IDC vice president for Clients and Displays.

All told, IDC said that Apple sold two million Macs during the quarter in the U.S. market, representing 24.1% year-over-year growth for 10.6% of the market. This was well ahead of total U.S. growth of 3.8%, and as you can in the chart below, Apple has the largest growth by far in the U.S.

#2 Dell is solidly ahead of Apple, with 4.4 million PCs and 23.1% of the market, but that represents a -4.9% year-over-year decline in U.S. sales for the company — Dell’s global PC shipments grew 9.7%.

On the other side of Apple, Acer is nipping at Apple’s heals with 10.3% of the market and 1.95 million units, a slight 0.1% growth over the prior year. HP is just ahead of Dell with 4.9 million PCs and 24.3% of the market, representing 2.7% growth year over year. Toshiba rounds out the Top 5 with 1.6 million units.

Top 5 Vendors, United States PC Shipments, Third Quarter 2010 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands)

Rank

Vendor

3Q10
Shipments

Market
Share

3Q09
Shipments

Market
Share

3Q10/3Q09
Growth

1

HP

4,591

24.3%

4,469

24.6%

2.7%

2

Dell

4,352

23.1%

4,578

25.2%

-4.9%

3

Apple

1,999

10.6%

1,611

8.9%

24.1%

4

Acer Group

1,949

10.3%

1,946

10.7%

0.1%

5

Toshiba

1,592

8.4%

1,426

7.8%

11.6%


Others

4,387

23.3%

4,151

22.8%

5.7%









Total

18,869

100.0%

18,181

100.0%

3.8%

Source: IDC

As impressive as Apple’s numbers may be to long time observers, Apple was still unable to crack the Top 6 in global PC sales. Globally, Toshiba was #6 with 4.7 million PCs and 5.2% of the market, while HP has a commanding lead in #1 with 15.8 million units and 17.6% of the market.

IDC didn’t release its figures for Apple’s global Mac sales, but judging from past quarters, the company will likely report having sold 3.2 million Macs or more when it reports earnings for the September quarter on Monday, October 18th.