MegaTech Biz: Apple’s iPad Ate 11% of the PC Market Michael Lim July 21, 2011 According to the latest quarterly IDC estimates, global PC sales were at 84.4 million units, up 2% from the same quarter last year. In comparison, Apple’s iPad went from zero to hero in about the same timeframe selling an estimated 9.25 million units in the most current quarter – meaning it makes up about 11% of the PC market. It also represents about 142% sales growth from the same period a year ago. Of course, we’re taking certain liberties here as Apple’s consumer tablet is far from a general purpose PC. However, it’s not too farfetched when we look at the fact that besides web browsing, email or social media (which the iPad does), the next most relevant activity for consumer PCs is entertainment, be it gaming or media playback (which the iPad also does). You know that this is significant when Apple can cause some of the biggest names in tech to completely change their strategies in reaction to their iOS devices. To wit, Microsoft’s Windows 8 is a complete, ground-up rebuild of the Windows OS and it will be very tablet centric. It will also be a lightweight in terms of system resources and support ARM processors out of the box. Intel is pushing everything, including ATOM, to 22nm in reaction to the surge of ARM processor powered computing devices flooding the market. And Google’s Android OS, once meant to dethrone Microsoft, is now focused specifically on competing with Apple and iOS. Steve Jobs has been instrumental in the resurgence of Apple’s brand and their bottom line since taking over the running of the company he created with Steve Wozniak back in the early 80s. It’s little wonder investors have gotten antsy due to his failing health and talk of finding a successor. With recent aggressive build forecasts for the next iPhone and chatter about iPad 3 going through the roof, there is little doubt Apple is just catching its second wind. Source: Business Insider Share This With The World!
