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Apple is now the world’s third largest mobile computer manufacturer thanks to the success of the iPad, new figures show.
According to the DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report, Apple shipped 6.3 million mobile PCs (including tablets) in Q3, representing 12.4 per cent of the market.
HP was top with 9.5 million shipments, followed by Acer with 9.1 million. Following Apple were Dell with 6.1 million and Toshiba with 4.3 million.
“A lack of competitive tablet PC products from other brands continues to drive Apple’s market share in the mobile PC segment. As the iPad continues its worldwide rollout, one developed region where the acceptance of the iPad has been weak is Japan, however. Questions of local language content and language-specific apps have slowed acceptance in this tech savvy region,” said Chris Connery, vice president of large format displays at DisplaySearch.
“As other players come to market with tablet PCs it will be interesting to see if they can move beyond the Western-centric nature of Apple’s product and develop an infrastructure to support local needs, especially with the growth of consumer spending in China on personal computing devices.”
In Q3 2010, worldwide mobile PC shipments reached 55 million, up 9.6 per cent compared to Q2, and up 19 per cent year on year – the biggest increase in volume since DisplaySearch began tracking the segment in 1999.
