No Flame Wars!
Discuss technical issues, software, and hardware.
Don't attack people!
Apple #1 PC Maker? Ping!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Posted on 08/23/2010 4:29:31 AM PDT by Swordmaker
The answer to the question depends on how iPad is classified and how the shipments add up combined with Macs. Is iPad a PC, like Windows tablets or low-powered netbooks? The definition is sure to generate controversy because of what's at stake -- which manufacturer is market share leader in the United States.
Late yesterday, I contacted Gartner and IDC, which both measure global PC shipments. But only Gartner responded to my question about how iPad is classified. It is clear from preliminary second quarter PC shipment data that neither analyst firm calculated iPad with PC shipments (Gartner explicitly explained so in its press release: "Gartner's PC group does not track media tablet sales in this PC shipment data, so iPad sales are not included in these results.") A Gartner spokesperson responded to my question about classification: "We don't have data for this category yet. We hope to have some stats for this category at some time shortly."
But what category is that? Media tablets? Windows tablets have been shipping for years, then there are slate netbooks. Don't these devices count as PCs? If so, then why not iPad? Apple's tablet has a microprocessor, graphics processor and storage disk, runs an operating system and third-party applications and connects to the Internet. That sure sounds like a personal computer to me. There's a touch keypad, or the user can attach a physical keyboard by Bluetooth. If PC classification requires a mouse, well, iPad doesn't have one of those. But should no mouse make iPad no PC?
So I'll ask you, before showing why the classification is so important: What is a PC? Please answer in comments.
In mid July, Gartner and IDC released preliminary worldwide PC shipments. Final numbers should be soon coming, now that Dell and HP announced quarterly results (yesterday). Both analyst firms placed HP No. 1 during second quarter for global PC shipments. HP and Dell ranked first and second, respectively, in the United States. Their rankings were based on estimated shipments. The analyst firms should have had final data from most other PC manufacturers before making the preliminary announcement.
Global Top 5, Gartner
1. HP, 14.455 million
2. Acer, 10.796 million
3. Dell, 10.283 million
4. Lenovo, 8.31 million
5. ASUS, 4.318 million
US Top 5, Gartner
1. HP, 4.608 million
2. Dell, 4.236 million
3. Acer, 2.028 million
4. Apple, 1.749 million
5. Toshiba, 1.565 million
According to Apple's fiscal third calendar-quarter earnings announcement, 3.472 million Macs shipped during calendar Q2. Apple also shipped 3.27 million iPads. If iPad counts as a PC and the numbers are combined, then Apple shipped 6.742 million personal computers during second quarter. That's high enough to raise Apple to No. 5 in global PC shipments.
Figuring US placement is dicier, because publicly-available information is incomplete. Apple announced 2 million iPads sold on May 31, which effectively means through the 30th -- or two days after international sales started. During the last month of the quarter, iPad was available in 10 countries. Apple hasn't released a geographic breakdown of sales and probably won't. The first million units came before Apple opened international sales, which is more than enough to push Apple ahead of Acer and snatch away third place.
But how much of that remaining 2.27 million units went to the United States? If 1.487 million (plus the 1 million for certain), then Apple would match Dell. If 1.859 million (plus the 1 million for certain), then Apple would match HP -- based on Gartner's preliminary data. To match Dell, international sales would be only 783,000 and 411,000 to match HP. However, IDC puts Apple unit shipments lower (1.618 million) and HP and Dell higher (4.721 million and 4.408 million, respectively). Based on those figures, it's unrealistic that Apple would rank any higher than third place. Again, the numbers are not exact. Gartner and IDC released preliminary shipments, and Apple's data stops two days before the quarter ended.
But what about third quarter? Could Apple top Dell or HP? The answer would depend on how iPad is classified. Is it a PC? If, yes, then based on analysts projections for PCs, Macs and iPads, Apple almost certainly could sell more units than HP or Dell in the United States. I've seen Wall Street analysts' iPad shipment estimates range from about 4 million to over 5 million units. Macs: Hovering above 3 million units. Assuming even half the combined Macs and iPads were sold here, Apple would be in striking distance of topping either HP or Dell.
In several previous blogs, I've asserted that iPad is the cheapest Mac that anyone can buy. But should iPad be counted as a PC? Netbooks are PCs, and ASUS recently reduced netbook shipments because of iPad competition. Apple's tablet certainly competes with PCs. Should it be counted as one? You tell me. In comments.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
An iPad is more like an “appliance” than a PC. An 8-bit CPM box from 1981 has a more accessible operating system. If it is a PC, then so is an iPod Touch.
...and so do most smartphones today, but we do not count them as PCs!
The lines are blurring between products, which is good for everyone, and will continue to blur as time goes on.
To get caught up in minutae like "who is ranked highest" is like a big penis contest among children.
Heck, as long as you’re going there, why not call a smartphone a PC? Apart from size, there’s not much difference between an iPhone and an iPad.
Just about any car today has more computational power than early PCs. Many have hard drives for the nav function. Some have Internet connectivity. Why not call a car a “PC”?
This is semantic silliness.
Let’s count calculators too. Or how about microwaves and remotes controls?
What is the point of this trite fanboy article? Some sort of call for some type of tech affirmative action so Apple fans can pretend that they make up the majority of something?
It seems that these guys spend all day either making excuses for Apple screwing them over on something, or trying to piece together stats to make it seem like everyone is using macs.
>> Some sort of call for some type of tech affirmative action so Apple fans can pretend that they make up the majority of something?
I don’t understand why exactly, but I do understand that it’s super-serial important to them.
Almost cult-like. Fascinating.
Careful.
You’ll be accused of spreading “noise”.
Personally, I like the iPad for a lot of things, but cannot see it replacing a PC. Great for performing a lot of manipulation-oriented tasks and some of the apps (and games) are incredible.
In a sense AAPL answered the question in the negative a while back, when it dropped "Computer" from its corporate name.OTOH isn't iOS an operating system? What else but a computer runs under an operating system?
I guess maybe the "PC" is dying. If you define the "PC" in terms of the traditional keyboard and mouse . . .
They’d be counting it as a PC if it ran Windows. It’s also around the price of a mid-range PC, so it’s above the regular “media tablet” market.
Apple's been trying to create a "computing appliance" ever since the first Mac.
And also every single smartphone out there.
It is a legitimate assesment. Did your PC in 1987 have a WYSIWYG word processor?
The market is more fragmented than ever, but this and that industry player gets puff pieces printed with the definition of computer twaeked to make it seem as if they are some kind of dominasnt force in the market.
The more the lines blur, the more meaningless the holding of a title like "market share leader" becomes.
What's the point of being the"market share leader" when nobody really knows what "market" you're the share leader of? It becomes meaningless advertising hype, which as near as I can tell isn't good for anyone except whoever it is that's making the claim.
Almost everything runs under some kind of OS these days. Embedded Linux and VXWorks are in probably billions of tiny devices, from your GPS and your set top box or DVR, to your wireless router. The days of basic circuitry running electronics devices are waning.
Now that I've thought about this a bit I have to disagree with the author. An iPad cannot be counted as a PC for one reason: it is dependent on a computer for setup and synching. That makes it a satellite device along with PDAs. I'll change my mind when you can pull an iPad out of the box and start using it without first plugging it into a computer.
We've got ATMs that run Windows, but I doubt anyone's going to count them as PC's.
As a matter of fact, yes; since 1984. ;-)
I sit by the pool with my iPad, VPN into my server at work and then use VNC to connect to my desktop. I then can do anything by the pool that I can do at my desk, only I am dressed differently. I can sit at the beach and do the same utilizing the 3G network. Find me an 8-bit CPM box from 1981 that can do that.
I have one iPad. Its fantastic - as an entertainment device. It awesome to play games on, Freep, surf the web, heck I even have logmein ignition so I can remote control my PC’s and servers that I manage. Sometimes I even sit down at my laptop and start trying to drag things across the screen.
Will it ever replace the 4 pc’s I have at home or any of the 200+ PC’s and servers I manage at work??? Nope...
I cut my PC teeth on Apple’s Macintosh system and, over time, really grew to like it. However, I had to give in to convention and go with Windows and, for many years, I thought PCs with Windows were ok.
Increasingly, however, I am becoming very disenchanted with Microsoft routinely changing their OS after proclaiming that each OS release is the last OS you’ll ever need. IMO, they have made each successive OS release worse than the last one.
With Apple, I found myself trapped in the “init” wars between Apple’s OS and a publisher’s application. When an application didn’t work after I installed it, the publisher would point to Apple’s OS as being the problem. When I called Apple, they would point to the publisher’s init as the problem. I was out the money, couldn’t take the software back and had an application that didn’t work.
Between the two of them today, either one is a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.