Apple takes 10% share US PC market

Gartner’s latest figures reveal Apple achieved a 10 per cent slice of the US in Q3 2008 – no wonder Microsoft’s running scared.

Meanwhile, worldwide PC shipments reached 80.6 million units in the third quarter of 2008, a 15 percent increase from the third quarter last year, the analysts said.

The news is that Apple’s share of quarterly US PC shipments shot to 9.5 per cent, up from 7.7 per cent in Q3 ’07. And US shipments increased 29.4 per cent, year-on-year – far, far, far – look really far ahead of total industry shipment growth of four-point-six percent (4.6%).

So, Apple’s global computer shipments grew six times faster than the industry.

Remarkable.

(Incidentally, some may note that this period includes the release of Vista, which was, erm, meant to boost computer sales, which kind of proves Apple COO Tim Cook’s point, we think).

The rest of the news is a little more lackluster – Apple hasn’t yet jumped into the top five slot for worldwide PC shipments, lagging slightly behind Toshiba with its 4.6 per cent share.