Mac sales up 25% in Americas, 76% in Asia
While the bulk of attention in Apple's earnings was focused on iPhone sales, Apple also experienced dramatic growth in Macs, despite slow PC sales globally and a shrinking market for PCs in the US.
While the bulk of attention in Apple's earnings was focused on iPhone sales, Apple also experienced dramatic growth in Macs, despite slow PC sales globally and a shrinking market for PCs in the US.
A report by Gartner agrees with IDC that PC shipments have contracted both globally and in the US, but the firm issued sales numbers that are significantly different than its market research rival.
Apple's line of Mac computers saw great success in the U.S. in the first quarter of calendar 2011, growing 9.6 from 2010, while the rest of the American market fell 10.7 percent and netbook maker Acer tumbled 42.1 percent.
A new forecast of the global smartphone platform market from research firm IDC has predicted that Microsoft's Windows Phone platform will see a resurgence in the next four years, overtaking Apple's iOS platform which powers the iPhone.
Contrasting Apple's recent claims that it controls more than 90 percent of the tablet market, research firm IDC revealed on Thursday that the iPad represented 73 percent of shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010, and 83 percent for the entire year.
Global smartphone sales have continued their explosive growth, topping 100 million total units last quarter, with Apple retaining second place among all vendors, according to IDC.
An analyst's survey of 1,100 consumers found just 6 percent reporting they are "likely" to buy RIM's new playbook, less than half the number who said the same of Apple's iPad last February.
Even without counting iPad sales, IDC's preliminary Q4 2010 report on PC shipments shows Apple experienced the fastest growth in an industry where average growth went negative due to tablet sales.
Google's Android mobile operating system will pass Apple's iOS and Nokia's Symbian in 2011 to become the top smartphone platform in all of Europe, IDC has predicted.
For the first time ever, Apple is the dollar share leader in the U.S. home PC market, with the Mac taking 29.4 percent of every dollar earned from domestic home computer sales.
In their latest quarterly reports on the mobile industry, Gartner and IDC have reported numbers that are wildly different, with Garner counting 77 million additional units sold. Gartner also assumes the use of Android by a large number of unspecified "Other" phone manufacturers, greatly reducing the market share of Apple, RIM, and even the major Android makers.
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