According to the latest data from IDC, Apple returned to occupy the fourth place among the largest computer manufacturers in the North American market, accounting for 9.4% of the total sales of the sector in the last quarter. Estimates point to a total of 1.64 million Macs sold in the United States alone, representing a sequential growth of 35.2% and an increase of almost 12% over the same period in 2008.

Taking annual figures into account, Apple has grown almost five times more than the industry average. In front of it were Acer (with 11.1% of third quarter sales), Dell (25%) and HP (25.5%), occupying for the first time the top of the list of major manufacturers in the United States despite the small growth, it saw a sharp drop of almost 13.5% in Dell sales.

Another manufacturer that has excelled in IDC's analysis is Acer, whose sales grew 48.3% in the United States and 25.6% in the world average, compared to 2008. In this way, it managed to take Dell's second place in the ranking worldwide PC sales and threatens HP, growing much more than its main competitor at the moment.
Toshiba and Lenovo also went well beyond expectations in relation to the third quarter of 2008, registering growths of 6.9% and 18.2%, respectively. In the end, sales were positive and managed to recover the sharp drop caused by the crisis in the first half of 2009.
In the world ranking, Apple is not among the top five, but it is estimated that its market share is around 4%. Much of its growth in relation to the industry average can be attributed to the good sales of MacBooks, updated in the beginning of the second semester and very popular during the back to school in the United States.
Gartner
Gartner also released its third-quarter PC sales figures, but they were not as encouraging as those at IDC. Apple maintained the fourth place among the largest manufacturers in the sector, but with growth below 7%, market share equal to 8.8% and a total of 1,572 million Macs sold in the United States.


Here, Dell still appears as the largest manufacturer, but not so far from rival HP and falling quite a bit (almost 9%), while Acer and Toshiba are growing steadily. Gartner also reports that the prices of computers sold in the third quarter of 2009 were approximately 20% over the same period in 2008, making hardware more accessible, favoring the PC market in general for a growth of almost 4% and decreasing the advantage from Apple on the media industry.
In regional data, sales of personal computers in Latin America fell by almost 4%, with 6.9 million units sold. Gartner expects that number to grow again in the next quarter, favored by the holiday season and also by the strong financial recovery, especially in emerging countries like Brazil.