Sam Oliver
The revelation comes from industry sources who spoke with DigiTimes. They said Apple is expected to ship a total of 60 million iPads in 2012, out of 80 million total tablets shipped.
When 15 million MacBooks are added into the equation, Apple would ship an estimated 75 million portable PCs in 2012. That would give the Cupertino, Calif., company 25 to 30 percent of the global notebook market.
HP is expected to ship between 45 million and 56 million units this year. And sources in the overseas electronics supply chain reportedly believe that HP will not be able to compete with Apple next year.
With the iPad categorized as a PC, Apple already became the top PC seller in the U.S. last October. Since then, iPad and Mac sales have only continued to grow.
Accordingly, a number of market research firms have begun classifying the iPad as a PC in their analyses. One tally released in January by Canalys found that Apple was the No. 3 worldwide PC maker with combined Mac and iPad sales, behind only Acer and HP.
Arguments against categorizing the iPad as a PC may carry even less weight after the release of iOS 5 this fall, adding PC-free setup to its touchscreen tablet. Wireless iTunes sync over Wi-Fi and iCloud backups will also allow users to ditch any wires in setting up and maintaining their iPhone or iPad.
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Andrew O'Hara
37 Comments
Imagine being in a coma since 1997 and waking up and reading that Apple is the largest PC vendor in the world.
Accordingly, a number of market research firms have begun classifying the iPad as a PC in their analyses. One tally released in January by Canalys found that Apple was the No. 3 worldwide PC maker with combined Mac and iPad sales, behind only Acer and HP.
We'll see how this plays out. Analysts have a tendency not to look at the big picture and iOS 5.0 allowing complete autonomy from a Mac/PC may not be enough for them, and that's before we consider the ones with ties to MS, Dell, HP et al.
It's a moot point in the end so long as we know the different ways the dog hunts. Apple themselves are calling it a post-PC device which is powerful marketing that has some cons with its pros. For instance, people still think Macs aren't PCs simply because Apple's successful advertising.
It's even more stunning if you take into account that HP makes on average USD25 (profit) per machine whereas Apple makes USD250 per machine (even when the iPad is included)!
With iOS 5, I don't see how the iPad can't be classified as a "PC", unless they choose not to classify Windows tablets as PCs either. Of course Apple gets to keep the profits either way, so it doesn't really matter, other than to make Gartner et al just look plain silly.
and then the joy of remembering you bought 10,000 shares at $4 back just before you went in the coma
Then remembering it was your wife who bought the stock at $4/share which pissed you off for so foolishly wasting your money so you drove angry caused an accident, ended up in a coma, and the stock was liquidated long ago to pay the remains of your estate after she left you.