Apple reported on Tuesday that the company sold 9.25 million iPads during the June quarter, a figure that equals 11% of the PC market, as noted by BusinessInsider. Alone, that would make Apple the 4th biggest PC maker in the world, but if you add in Apple’s Mac sales, the company would be #2, just behind HP.
We have to back up a bit, however, and point out a basic math error in Matt Rossoff’s article for BI. 9.25 million iPads is only 11% of the 84.4 million PCs sold during the June quarter (according to IDC) if you don’t count the 9.25 iPads in the total number, which you can’t if you’re going to make this comparison.
Accordingly, 9.25 million iPads is 9.9% of the combined 93.65 million PCs and iPads that were sold during the quarter, and that’s still an impressive figure. It also still leaves Apple as the #2 computer maker ahead of Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and behind HP’s 15.3 million PCs sold.
But that’s only if you want to consider an iPad a PC, which it’s not. Media tablets — specifically the iPad, which I think not only owns, but defines this market — are a new category of device, a new way to use computer technology.
At the same time, it could be argued that many iPad sales are taking what would have otherwise been a PC or Mac sale. Indeed, for the first time, Apple COO Tim Cook acknowledged during Tuesday’s conference call with analysts that iPads are cannibalizing Mac sales, even though Mac sales are still growing year-over-year.
No matter how you slice it, Mr. Rossoff’s main point that a new player in town has steamrolled its way into the PC market as a major player in a little more than a year is very valid point, and it’s something that should worry Apple’s competitors.
King iPad