PC Market Share: Apple Laughs In The Face Of PC Decline, According To Study

PC Market Share: As expected by most, the PC market in regions across the world continues to struggle. What kind of impact this has on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is yet to be seen, however, it is safe to say that changes are on the horizon.

According to Gartner, the PC market in Western Europe declined by 20.5 percent during the first quarter of 2013.

While a dip may have been expected, some were not expecting things to go so bad so fast.

During the first quarter, PC shipments in this region totaled 12.3 million units. When compared to the first quarter of 2012, this is a decrease of 20.5 percent.

If the market continues down this path in Western Europe, it will be all but dead within a few years time. Obviously, this will have a major impact on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as well as its competition in the region.

Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner added the following:

“The first quarter of 2013 brought the worst quarterly decline in Western Europe since Gartner started tracking PC shipments in this region. Wide availability of Windows 8-based PCs could not boost consumer PC purchases during the quarter. Although the new Metro-style user interface suits new form factors, users wonder about its suitability for traditional PCs — non-touchscreen desktops and notebooks.”

As you can see by Escherich’s comments, things are not looking good for the PC market in Western Europe.

At this point, you are probably thinking that things went bad for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the first quarter. Fortunately for Cupertino, this was not true.

In fact, “Lenovo and Apple were the only top-five vendors to record growth.”

When you look at the numbers, Apple had a 7.9 percent market share. While this is a small piece of the pie, Cupertino doesn’t spend much time selling computers in the “PC market” category in this region.

Over the past year, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has picked up 1.7 percentage points in terms of market share as well as 0.8 percent growth.

Escherich added that “the PC is the first to fall by the wayside as usage patterns shift toward smartphones and tablets. This ongoing trend will have a profound impact on the size of the installed base of PCs.”

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was not hit hard in Western Europe, unlike some of its competitors.

See more information on how many companies performed during the first quarter:

Check back here for more updates on PC Market Share.

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