Apple's U.S. Market Share Approaches 10%

Gartner has published a preliminary report on U.S. and worldwide PC shipments for the third quarter of 2008. The report pegs Apple's share of quarterly U.S. PC shipments at 9.5%, up from 7.7% in the third quarter of 2007. Apple's U.S. shipments increased 29.4% year-over-year, far outpacing the total industry shipment growth of 4.6%.

Apple traditionally demonstrates particularly solid performance in the back-to-school third quarter due to their strong presence in the education market. While this typically results in a drop in market share for the fourth quarter of each calendar year, Apple's overall trend is clearly positive.

Despite continued strong performance in the U.S. market, Apple has yet to crack the top five vendors for worldwide shipments. Toshiba continues to hold the fifth spot with a 4.6% market share in a worldwide PC market that experienced 15% growth in shipments year-over-year.