Market research firm Canalys today named Apple the leading worldwide client PC vendor in Q4 2011. Apple owes its success to its iPad tablets which Canalysis includes in the client PC category (desktops, netbooks, notebooks, and tablets or pads as Canalys calls them). Apple shipped some 20 million PCs (15 million iPads and five million Macs), giving it a 17% market share of the 120 million PCs (including over26 million tablets) shipped globally in Q4.
Apple took the crown from Hewlett-Packard which fell to second place. Lenovo took third place, followed by Dell and Acer. Of the five, only Apple and Lenovo saw market share gains (6% and 2% respectively).
Canalys also warns that without the right tablet strategy, 2012 will be another challenging year for many manufacturers.
“The consumerization of IT continues to be a significant disruptive force in the PC industry, but many of the leading vendors have failed to capitalize on the trend to date,” said Coulling. “This year will be a pivotal year for those vendors that were slow to launch pads. It is not just the product that they need to get right, business models are equally important – driving revenues from content delivery can help vendors reach lower price points in a market that is incredibly price sensitive.”
The overall PC market grew 16% year-on-year when tablets are included. Without them, the market actually declined 0.4%.
Read more: Canalys