The team at Apple are not just a bunch of great product developers who intuitively seem to know what their clients want. They also happen to be phenomenal business tycoons; if the latest statistics are anything to go by. This month, Apple was ranked number one in their industry world-wide, taking over 17% of the global personal computer market. An incredible feat by any standard, yet one I struggled with for a while.
The fourth quarter of 2011 was a time to shine for Apple (once more). Further records were broken, even more products were sold, and consumers were lining up to get their hands on the latest releases that Apple had to offer. During Q4 2011 they were the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world. Up against some stiff competition, in Samsung, they easily took the top spot.
Now they can open up their trophy cabinet again and make room for a new award. The number ONE Personal Computer company in the world. This is a pretty impressive result, given the tough competition from HP, Dell and Lenovo (IBM). However, as always, there is more to this story than meets the eye!
Global research undertaken by Canalys (super reliable research firm), also considered the iPad as a Personal Computer when compiling these rankings. Fair enough I suppose, as the iPad operates as a laptop in many ways. When researching the total number of iPad sales, Apple sold more than 15 million iPads and more than 5 million Mac’s in the last quarter. Starting to understand where the 17% comes from now?
It has to be said (before I cause an uproar) that Canalys did not show favoritism towards Apple here. The research also included the Kindle Fire, the Nook Colour/Tablet, and a number of other popular tablets that are available on the market.
More to the point, the above figures not only show Apple’s dominance on the personal computer market, they also show the brands dominance in the tablet market. A market that is only going to keep on growing. By any count Apple are very far out in front here, and it is unlikely that any competitor are going to close the gap in the near future. Although Samsung are definitely trying their best!
The increase in the popularity of Tablets, specifically the iPad, and the decision by Canalys to include tablets in their personal computer counts, makes me wonder will the tablet eventually take the place of the laptop? Rumours are already rife that Apple plans to develop the new generation iPads with higher functionality, that will rival that of the Macbook.
That said, as an avid iPad user, there’s still occasions where I have to put it down and go dust off my trusty Acer laptop (yes, Acer). Some functions just don’t flow on the iPad, the Flash issue for one, the fact that I can’t see multiple windows at a time, and how awkward it is to send more than one attachment in an email. The most frustrating thing though has got to be uploading and downloading files, and for these reasons I won’t be waving goodbye to my laptop anytime soon. 17% though, not a bad start I reckon!
Matt Beswick runs an SEO agency in London, among his clients are a rapidly growing travel company that operate airport lounges in Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.
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