Apple computer sales in the U.S. rose 38 percent during the second quarter, more than triple that of top PC maker Hewlett-Packard, researchers said Tuesday.
Gartner said U.S. Apple PC shipments rose 38.1 percent during the second quarter, compared to the same period in 2007. The Cupertino, Calif. company shipped nearly 1.4 million PCs in the U.S., up from 1 million units during the second quarter of 2007, Gartner said.
Read more about Apple’s jump in marketshare after this jump.
Apple’s share of the U.S. computer market also increased by more that two points to 8.5 percent from 6.4 percent the previous year.”The home PC segment continued to be the strongest driver for Apple, as well as sales into the education segment,” analyst Mika Kitagawa said.
The figures are higher than the August 23 million Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reported Monday. Apple shipments had been up 43 percent earlier last month. The slowdown is attributed to the slowdown in consumer sales also affecting PC makers.
While worldwide PC sales rose 16 percent in the second quarter, shipping almost 72 million units, U.S. shipments rose just 4 percent with 16.5 million products sold.
But that advance it U.S. PC sales came at a price, Gartner said. PC makers boosted sales by cutting prices, a move that also shrank their revenue.
PC buyers also put on hold their migration from desktop to laptop computers. Gartner said IT departments began purchasing less-expensive desktop models and the effects of an economic slowdown began being felt.
Hewlett-Packard again won the title as top PC maker, its global marketshare rising only slightly to 18.1 percent compared to 18 percent during the second quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, Dell experienced an almost 22 percent jump in second quarter growth, pushing its marketshare to 15.6 percent, up from 14.8 percent a year ago.
Photo: Alistair Israel
