Apple ties Gateway for third in US PC shipments, looks to steal the bronze

While many have criticized Apple for (debatably) giving its handheld lineup more priority than the Mac, it looks like sales aren't suffering because of it. Presumably due (at least in part) to the halo effect stirred by Apple's marketing blitz of its iPhone and iPod, Apple's US personal computer shipments for Q2 of this year landed them in a tie with the once mighty Gateway in terms of American market share. Granted, Gateway did have a few more shipments than Apple, but if Gateway continues to fade and Macs continue to move, we could see Cupertino raising up the bronze (outright) here soon. Attaboy Steve -- just snag 18-percent more of the market and second place is all yours.

[Kent Pribbernow @ Jul 19th 2007 11:07AM]

Captain, my sensors detect sarcasm.

Mr. Sulu, raise the Reality Distortion Field.

[hybridvigor88 @ Jul 19th 2007 11:11AM]

Is it possible that if Apple sells more and more computers then more viruses and worms can come up? eh... if so..would raising prices help?

[Chuckles McGee @ Jul 19th 2007 12:07PM]

"Would raising prices help reduce the number of viruses on Macs?"

I have no idea if that was the most subtly sarcastic piece of marketing advice or just stupidity.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jul 19th 2007 11:13AM]

I'm not sure whether this means Apple is doing great, or that Gateway is dying. I'm guessing the latter.

[Ignacio @ Jul 19th 2007 12:58PM]

"The U.S. market grew by 7.2% while Apple's sales grew 26.1% from the year ago quarter."

Does that make it clearer? :)

[Maneki Neko @ Jul 19th 2007 2:34PM]

Depends on how you look at it. Gateway declined 14% in its marketshare, while Apple increased by 16.7%.

However, if you just look at absolute numbers, Gateway declined 7.1% in shipment, while Apple increased 26.2%.

Not as cut and dry as Apple fans that seem to frequent this site would make it seem.

[thispaceforsale @ Jul 19th 2007 11:14AM]

Dell really is struggling. It will be interesting to see next year, with Asus making such a strong surge at the moment (and acer's strong re-entry). Apple continues to be a very niche product in the pc world- all the moreso when outside the us.
I wonder how much longer before the company gets serious pressure to split the wildly successful iportion from apple computers proper.

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 19th 2007 11:19AM]

Very good.

Now who's ready for ice cream???

[Argot @ Jul 19th 2007 11:35AM]

"Granted, Gateway did have a few more shipments than Apple, but if Gateway continues to fade bla bla bla..."

So in the real world Apple is still fourth, not third. Gotta get me some of that RDF!

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Jul 19th 2007 11:53AM]

They're talking marketshare, not units shipped. Their share of the market is going to be the same if Gateway ships 101 units over Apple's 100. There's no RDF playing around there - that's business.

And, technically, if they're tied there is no one in third and both of them end up in fourth place.

[nikster @ Jul 19th 2007 7:13PM]

@Geoffrey: If you've got to be technical, if two are tied for 3rd, there is no 4th.

At least that's the way it's done in all sports competitions. If two are tied for 1st, there's no second. Etc.

[Alex Padilla @ Jul 19th 2007 11:40AM]

Well, I think it goes both ways. PCs are struggling thanks to the suck-tastic Vista, because companies need to put together products that can handle the OS, and that costs money, and that little chain of events eventually leads to lower PC output due to lower PC demand and higher production costs. At the same time, Apple is taking advantage of this with their marketing, proclaiming that they're a viable alternative (and they are), so people are willing to fork out the money for a Mac because "you get what you pay for."

But, like I said, it's a little of both. Apple's growth isn't as much as PC's decline, I think. But, at the same time, part of PC's decline is due to Apple's growth.

What a vicious cycle.

[wyrdtoo @ Jul 19th 2007 12:15PM]

Wow, Alex, brilliant deductions on your part... except you're completely WRONG! Do you actually READ the source material or just jump to conclusions? I hope you don't live your life like this.

The source article shows that PCs are not struggling, in fact global shipments were UP 12.5% in the second quarter (7.2% in US). All major global vendors, except Dell, experienced double-digit growth.

How does that fit into your theory that PCs are struggling because of Vista or that there's "lower PC demand"?

Also, as far as Apple is concerned, they get Kudos. They grew their US shipments over 26% (year-over-year), more than 3 times the overall US market growth.

But don't start drinking the koolaid yet - Apple isn't even a freckle on a gnat's ass to the rest of the world. :D

[Nick Ellsworth @ Jul 19th 2007 11:42AM]

Is that a halloween-themed award?

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Jul 19th 2007 11:48AM]

That's what I want to know... I saw the bats and was wondering what cut-rate clipart site Engadget grabbed that "award" from....

[Nick @ Jul 19th 2007 12:13PM]

Clearance!

http://www.buycostumes.com/Category/131/Product/26609/ProductDetail.aspx

[ejhays @ Jul 19th 2007 8:40PM]

could it have something to do with the expected sales jump with the next os being released in october?

[Maneki Neko @ Jul 19th 2007 11:43AM]

Hard numbers from the report:
#2 HP
4,023 this year 23.6%
3,193 last year 20.0%

#3 Gateway
965 this year 5.6%
1,039 last year 6.5%

#4 Apple
960 this year 5.6%
761 last year 4.8%

So in short Apple showed some nice gains, but Gateway showed some even bigger losses. Also, like someone else mentioned, it's only a tie on Engadget, but the difference is pretty small.

[Matt @ Jul 19th 2007 12:03PM]

Um, are those numbers in THOUSANDS? Or did Apple sell fewer than 1000 computers this year?

[Nick @ Jul 19th 2007 3:50PM]

wow.... i swear the users/readers on this site keep getting more and more oblivious. Its amazing they even know how to use a computer well enough to get to a website.

[BuzWeaver @ Jul 19th 2007 11:53AM]

Define "a few more shipments". If you include 'all' the Apple products, then perhaps they can get close to PC sales (volume), but for actually selling more boxes than Gateway or other competitor that's laughable.

[DC @ Jul 19th 2007 11:53AM]

laugh out loud

[paloooz @ Jul 19th 2007 12:00PM]

So in other words, what you're saying is:

"Blah blah blah...

[link to shit blog]"

[L. M. Lloyd @ Jul 19th 2007 12:01PM]

So let me get this straight, Gateway (5.6%), Apple (5.6%), Toshiba (5.3%) and Acer (5.2%) combined didn't sell as many computers as HP alone. Apple went from 4.8% of the US market, to 5.6% of the US market (a whopping .8% gain in market share). Apple came in fourth, not third, and you run a story about how Apple is having a meteoric rise in sales, and is nipping at the heels of HP and Dell? Did you even read the article you linked to, or did you just feel like running a made up story about how wonderful Apple is again?

All of this made even more humorous by the fact that Apple doesn't even show up on the worldwide market share figures, just getting lumped in with all the "others." Where is the story about how Acer went from 2.1% to 5.1% in the same period? Obviously, by your logic, that means that Acer is going to eclipse them all since their 163.8% dwarfs Apple's 26.2% growth. What about Toshiba with 50% growth? Does that mean they are going to overtake everyone soon too?

Really, try, just for once, showing a little integrity, or at least link to the Macworld article that leaves out the raw data, so it isn't quite as obvious how much you are skewing your interpretation to get the result you want to see.

[Simba @ Jul 19th 2007 12:16PM]

I was thinking the same thing. But Engadget needs a stead stream of applepheliacs to help with their revenue, so they throw the fanboys a bone to feel good about themselves. But then for those of us in the real world, we all know there no real fruit in Computing. ;)

[ekwmin @ Jul 19th 2007 1:38PM]

Do you have any idea how hard it is to gain 1% market share in the computer business? Even more so if you consider how easy it is to loose 1% (just ask Dell). Apple will never reach no.1 or no.2 status and they don't need to. It's amazing if you look at their profit margin. Part of the reason is because most of Apple's computers are high end. Unless Apple pumps out competitive $500(not the mac mini) desktops and laptops there's no way they will ever ship more computers than Dell or HP. Apple outselling Dell or HP is like BMW selling more cars than Toyota or GM. Just the fact that they are catching up to Gateway in the US is a real accomplishment. Having said that if Apple ever gains significant market share they will become just like Dell and start sucking, so I'm not looking forward to that.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Jul 19th 2007 1:58PM]

That's funny ekwmin, HP, Acer and Toshiba didn't seem to have any problem picking up 3.6%, 3.1% and 1.5% respectively, and I don't even see their ads every ten minutes on every single channel, at all hours of the day and night. For that matter, I don't remember Engadget, Gizmodo, and every other tech blog writing multiple stories single every day, for weeks, about any new Acer or Toshiba products coming out. I don't hear HP, Acer or Toshiba mentioned regularly in any story about the computer industry, and I don't see HP, Acer and Toshiba fanboys posting to any story about any other computer to say how much better their favorite product is. In fact, given the almost unbearable amount of media attention, positive press, and unrelenting marketing Apple has, a .8% increase in market share is pretty pathetic. I can't even remember the last time I saw a Gateway ad, story, or computer, and they STILL beat Apple by several thousand units. I go into my local Best Buy, and there is a gigantic Apple shrine as the centerpiece of the computer section, while all the other PCs are just stuck on a shelf side by side, and Apple STILL only got a .8% sales increase!

Yes, it would appear it is very hard for Apple to pick up an extra point of markets share, but it doesn't seem as though it is really that impossible for their competitors, who are seeing far larger gains in market share with far less marketing and PR. I guess they must just have better products or something.

[johnny5 @ Jul 19th 2007 2:28PM]

Not to refute your whole emotional argument, but most of that advertising that Apple floods the market with is for a product that has 75% marketshare, and for one that sold 500,000 in its first weekend.

[ekwmin @ Jul 19th 2007 4:32PM]

To that I say that Acer and Toshiba is kicking ass. I see your point. What you're saying is that Apple is getting SO MUCH! press coverage while Acer and Toshiba gets none. That is very true, I guess they should fire their PR Manager. It is quite sickening how much attention Apple is getting, ridiculous how much editorial advertising they are getting for free. And yes somehow it screws with everyone's mind because I get a lot of friends asking me if they should get a mac thinking that their computer problems will go away. But the real root of their problem is that they are buying cheap PCs and expecting a lot from it. What do you expect when you're comparing a $600 notebook from Wal-Mart vs. a $2200 macbook pro? I show them some nice PC laptops in the $1500+ range (in fact Toshiba are among my favorites). Sometimes they get the Mac and sometimes they don't. And I bet you thought that I was an Apple fanboy. Well I sort of am, just not a blind one.

[carl @ Jul 19th 2007 12:27PM]

In terms of sales growth in the US, apple is tied for third, which isn't really all that impressive. Now Acer's growth is pretty impressive.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Jul 19th 2007 12:34PM]

Actually, I think what is really impressive is HP's growth. It is relatively easy for a company to grow a lot when they are near the bottom. A company in the top two beating industry growth by that much is really impressive. Of course it looks like they did it largely by getting sales away from Dell, but still they had impressive growth, even if they were entirely responsible for Dell's 10% loss.

[Thom Anderson @ Jul 19th 2007 1:40PM]

Don't forget that HP ate Compaq.

[Yo Yo Smuggler @ Jul 19th 2007 7:17PM]

Didn't HP merge with Compaq in 2002? Somehow I don't think a merger that took place 5 years ago has much to do with HP's increase in sales today. I've been wrong before though.

[Thom Anderson @ Jul 19th 2007 7:58PM]

Was just making the point that HP is not just HP, its also Compaq.

[kdo @ Jul 19th 2007 1:22PM]

"acers growth is impressive, but this is engadget(apples dripping dildo) so story reads apple"

-severus

^^ That sums up everything quite nicely.

And yes, I have a mac.

[loci @ Jul 19th 2007 1:49PM]

every apple user i know in the "real world" has ginger hair!!!
anyone know why this is?

[whowhatme @ Jul 19th 2007 2:19PM]

actually, i have black hair. i used to be as skeptical as any of you knee-jerk apple haters. but, after having bought a macbook pro and actually used a mac, i feel like i'm qualified to say that apple's computers are just. plain. better.

the hardware's better in quality, the design is sleeker, and the OS (which is the main draw for me), just blows any version of windows out of the water. I've been using my MBP for more than a year, and can still count the number of times OS X has crashed on me on one hand. I don't remember the last time I've gone a week without my XP machine crashing on me at least once.

My hypothesis is that having seen the pretty UI of the iPhone, more people are realizing, "hey, why can't my computer OS look as pretty?" and the raise in sales that you're seeing is just a result of a shift from functionality to actual quality, stability, and ease of use in computing environments.

[loci @ Jul 19th 2007 2:33PM]

i agree, apple cater to the dummies of society...fisher price design for fisher price minds.
they sell sexy to the ugly and cool to the uncool.

the majority of people need to belong, scared to be different and thats what apple offer.
everyone is the same...i.clones, i.drones, i.conform

[Miles @ Jul 19th 2007 2:43PM]

Looks like someone is getting paid to post comments.

Also, I find Linux to be MUCH MUCH better than OS X.

Infact, I've had linux crash once in the last 3 years I've been running it, and that was due to me messing around with the kernel.

If you can give me CONCRETE PROOF that the Mac has better hardware and is the just. plain. better, then I will draw the Apple logo on my head and keep it there for a week. I'll upload a picture for you too!

[Ignacio @ Jul 19th 2007 2:03PM]

Apple's "unsustainability" (and its imminent death) has been predicted constantly... for the last 15 years. ;)

[JM @ Jul 19th 2007 2:04PM]

Define unsustainable. Is Apple losing money? Are their future financial trendlines positive or negative? Sure Apple isn't conquering the world, but how on earth do their financials point to a lack of sustainability?

[Simba @ Jul 19th 2007 2:18PM]

They were close in 97, Bill Gates and the Microsoft empire had to bail them out all the while where steve whines about MS doesn't have to lose for Apple to win.

Now that tune has changed, he's back to being a cocky arrogant a$$wipe who convinces his drones into happily paying $$$ for products with unbelievable high profit margins. Its these same lobotimized few who also refer to Mircosoft as M$. Oh the irony...:D

[Michael Kaplan @ Jul 19th 2007 2:22PM]

It's not the marketing of the iPod and iPhone, it's the products themselves, and the overall user experience. Microsoft spent an order of magniture more to launch Vista than Apple did with the iPhone, but which product is satisfying the user more?

As for why Toshiba and HP get no media attention for their new products? It's simple: they're boring, me-too efforts that no one cares much about. Not that there aren't breakthrough products in the Wintel world -- the original ThinkPad was spectacular by anyone's standards -- but they're so few and far between

[Simba @ Jul 19th 2007 2:28PM]

See the difference is Vista's installed base is 30times the Mac's whole user base. And that was achieved in 5months.

Apple is irrelevant to computing outside 'Oh its soo pweeety" segment of the population.

[Ignacio @ Jul 19th 2007 3:13PM]

@Simba: According to Wikipedia (or rather, to the independent sources quoted and linked from there), they are about the same:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_desktop_operating_systems

[johnny5 @ Jul 19th 2007 2:40PM]

Apple is irrelevant to computing outside 'Oh its soo pweeety" segment of the population.

Outside? Something tells me that the segment of the population that thinks design is for girls is the one on the outside. I think it's a ridiculously fat wad of cash from Apple stock cooing to me.

30 times? Wee bit of exaggeration there. And thanks to Microsoft forcing every new PC to come with Vista, arguing that it's superior because it's got more users is like saying that China is the best country in the world because the most people have been born there.

[Joseph @ Jul 19th 2007 6:14PM]

Before Apple switched to Intel processors, every component except for the motherboard and processor is interchangeable with the PC component. Now that apple has switched to Intel, you can even change the processor, as long as its an Intel Core Duo.

When you buy an Apple computer, your really just buying the right to use OS X on your PC. Some people have hacked the OS X to run on any PC, but that leaves no room for updates, without hacking the updates as well.

So technically, there really isn't a PC vs. Apple battle. It is just Mac OS X vs. Windows (XP, VISTA). And yes, Linux is better, which is why Mac OS X uses Linux as the core, with just a nice GUI on top.

I have spent 18 years enjoying Apple products, and in my spare time, fixing Windows based PC's. In that time, I have only had Hard Drive failure's on my Apple computer's. I have seen quite a few hard drive failures on Windows base computers as well. Hard drive's just fail after extended use, nothing more to it. Only other issue I have ever seen besides hard drives, is the Windows OS crashing. I have had to reinstall Windows OS (95, 98, XP) on many computers for my friends and family, mainly due to that infamous "Blue Screen of death." I also have removed numorous viruses, spyware, and other malicous code from the many Windows OS based computers, and many of them I had to do manually since no Anti-Virus could detect them.

This is why more and more people are choosing to switch to Apple computers. Their OS is just more reliable. It has nothing to do with the hardware, since the hardware is the same.

And for those of you who think that the MAC OS X system can't use any software, or use any upgrade, then you are wrong. Currently, there are 4 ways to use any Windows Software on a Mac. Dual Boot with XP, Two different ways of Emulating XP so no reboot required, Cross Over which allows you to install Windows software on the Mac itself, and there is a company that offers the use of any Windows software over VPN client. And as far as the Mac not being upagradeable, you can update anything, just some components are harder to get to. CompUSA can change out your hard drive or cd drive for $29.99, which makes things much easier.

[Yo Yo Smuggler @ Jul 19th 2007 7:56PM]

Any BSOD I've ever had to deal with has involved a bad driver (99.9%) or bad hardware. Once I isolate which driver/hardware has caused it, it is a simple fix. If your answer to a BSOD is a reformat and reinstall, then I am not a bit surprised that you decided to take the Apple route. Clearly you do not understand Windows.

Now for an experiment. Take an nvidia Riva TNT 128 (or any other 10 year old video card) and install it in your Mac. Now I know you won't get a BSOD, but I will be infinitely surprised if your mac were to automatically download and install the necessary up to date drivers for it to work. XP and Vista will do just that. You see, Apple doesn't have to deal with the plethora of third party hardware out there. So yeah, it just works. Just as long as you're ok with only being able to get it in white.

I find it odd when people profess to be power users, yet still believe BSODs are a commonplace, and occurrence in the MS world.

[Joseph @ Jul 19th 2007 8:52PM]

Actually, most of the BSOD that I have encountered were due to a missing .dll file or missing system32 file. I must clarify, when I say reinstall the OS, I ment the "Repair" install which just replace's the system files, I only had to reformant once. What I don't understand about Windows OS, is how your system could be working fine for weeks, then all of a sudden, .dll files start to become missing and system files disapear. Your right, I would rather not have to deal with these hassles, which is why I prefer Mac OS X over Windows.

On a side note, I have Windows XP installed as a Dual Boot partition on my Mac, and suprisingly, Windows XP runs much, much more smoothly with Apple Hardware. I suspect the reason for this is because Apple doesn't grabe random hardware to shove into their computers. Each compononent is compatible with each other without any hicups. I have built Windows Based computers before, and trying to get the right combination of hardware together at the right price is fun, yet tedious.

[Aaron @ Jul 19th 2007 6:20PM]

"Define unsustainable. Is Apple losing money? Are their future financial trendlines positive or negative? Sure Apple isn't conquering the world, but how on earth do their financials point to a lack of sustainability?"

Red Herring. The reference to unsustainable was to Apple's computer shipments. Not the iWHATEVER market share. Apple is a fabulously successful company but their computer shipments are predominantly (as a function of total shipments) US-based. No one is disputing their financials. The statement was made regarding the sustainability of their computer products in a global marketplace. There, the statistics do not lie: 1.2%. Go ahead and celebrate that platform if you want. You are in small company; global speaking.