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Table 2
Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q06
(Thousands of Units)
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                  2Q06   2Q06 Market    2Q05   2Q05 Market  2Q06-2Q05
Company        Shipments   Share (%) Shipments   Share (%)  Growth (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dell               5,302       32.0      4,988        32.0        6.3
Hewlett-Packard    3,127       18.9      2,713        17.4       15.2
Gateway            1,035        6.2        890         5.7       16.3
Apple Computer       766        4.6        663         4.3       15.4
Lenovo               639        3.9        607         3.9        5.3
Others             5,717       34.5      5,724        36.7       -0.1
Total             16,587     100.00     15,585       100.0        6.4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Data includes deskbased PCs, mobile PCs and X86 servers.
Source: Gartner Dataquest (July 2006)

Dell 6.3% + HP 15.2% + Gateway 16.3% + Lenvo 5.3 + others -0.1 = 43%

Apple 15.4%

Dell 6.3% + HP 15.2% + Gateway 16.3% + Lenvo 5.3 + others -0.1 = 43%

Apple 15.4%

That's not the way you calculate growth of several components... you have to average them:


     6.3% + 15.2% + 16.3% + 5.3%     _{= 10.775% Top 4 PC maker Growth rate}
                 4

The others at -0.1% cannot be included because we do not have a number for how many computer makers comprise the catch-all term "others".

So we CAN compare the average growth rate (10.775%) of the top 4 PC makers to Apple's growth rate (15.4%)... and see that Apple's is greater. Look at the bottom line, it shows the growth rate for the overall industry :

----------------------------------------------------------------------
                  2Q06   2Q06 Market    2Q05   2Q05 Market  2Q06-2Q05
Company        Shipments   Share (%) Shipments   Share (%)  Growth (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
     . . . (individual company and "other" data omitted) . . .
Total             16,587     100.00     15,585       100.0        6.4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Data includes deskbased PCs, mobile PCs and X86 servers.
Source: Gartner Dataquest (July 2006)

My calculations show that there must be 53 computer makers that have an average growth loss of -0.1% included in that "other" listing to drop the average 11.7% growth rate of the five leading companies (including Apple) to the 6.4% growth rate for the industry shown on the bottom line.


     6.3% + 15.2% + 16.3% + 15.4% + 5.3%  + (53 x -0.1%)     _{= 6.4% Computer Industry Growth rate}
                            58

Remember also these figures were Gartner's best guesses... and it turns out that Gartner was wrong and that Apple's growth rate was NOT 15.4% but actually only 12%... and the rest of the PC makers were not 6.4% but actually 9.7% for the 2nd Quarter of 2006.

Dell 6.3% + HP 15.2% + Gateway 16.3% + Lenvo 5.3 + others -0.1 = 43%

You're adding up individual growth percentages. That doesn't make sense.

Another thing is that this includes servers. I'd like to see that broken out, since a big chunk of Dell and HP sales is servers to entrenched IT departments.

But this chart does show that Apple is the fourth largest computer vendor, and that the king of the hill Dell is relatively slipping.