there were those pundits and yes those "We loath everything Apple" who found a silver lining in the near depression. They all said that Apple would be brought low because no one could or would buy Apple. And yet here we are:)
Pagan jim
While the UK has seen the fifth consecutive decline in quarterly PC shipments, Apple appears to be immune from the global economic downturn and even hard drive shortages. At least, for now.
Technology research firm Gartner said that in 2011, the UK’s PC market declined by just shy of 16 percent, with the fourth quarter faring the worst in five quarters. During the short holiday season of Christmas — bearing in mind we do not celebrate thanks unlike our American cousins — PC shipments totalled only 2.8 million units, a decline of 19.6 percent year on year.
Strangely, while Apple products are generally far more expensive than their competitive counterparts, the Brits appear to be ‘investing’ in long-term devices than short-term, flimsy and easily worn PCs.
The Cupertino-based giant saw its Mac shipments hit 267,000 units, up by 39 million from the year below. This makes it a 17.2 percent increase, and marked its share at 9.1 percent of the UK market. All the other major manufacturers, including Acer, Dell, HP, and Toshiba lost marketshare. Dell lost 32 percent and HP lost 27 percent.
In fact, Apple overtook Acer to take fourth place in the UK’s rankings, which dropped by a near-impossible 62.4 percent in sales.
Apple still has a tiny marketshare in the vast scheme of things. It is estimated to have less than 10 percent of the global computer marketshare. That itself isn’t interesting, nor is it a new fact. What is interesting is the growth in which Apple is enjoying, particularly in times when the general British population continues to scrape the pennies together.
Across the pond to France, Apple saw growth too. Only Asus out of the ‘traditional PC player’ market, as sister site CNET described it, saw an increase in sales. It’s certainly one thing to call it. I call it a “dying market”, as ZDNet’s Great Debate sought out to prove.
Credit where credit is due, Apple.
Image source: Luigi Rosa/Flickr, Gartner.
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