On the eve of the announcement of Apple's financial results, Gartner and IDC today released their computer sales estimates for the first quarter of 2010, placing the Mac in an important position in the market. The data were released only with reference to the United States, but consider the company's computer line as the fifth largest option for users to purchase in the period.

For Gartner, the iPad helped Macs' sales growth during the last quarter somewhat, contradicting the opinion of those who thought it would cannibalize sales with all expectations of pre-sales in the United States. In her estimate, she says that Apple has marketed 1.398 million Macs in the past three months, guaranteeing 8% of the total computers purchased by the Americans.

This indicates that Apple grew 34% compared to the first quarter of 2009. However, the last few months have been positive for almost all companies that sell PCs on a large scale, thanks to the recovery of the purchase pace of the market were 17.4 million computers sold in the USA only. In the last quarter, the main highlights in the PC segment were Toshiba and Acer, which grew more than 50% compared to 2009.
For IDC, the numbers of leading PC manufacturers were slightly more modest than those of Gartner, indicating that many people chose to set up new computers with other companies. Still, Apple managed to grow 8.3% over the first quarter of 2009, selling 1.13 million Macs in the United States and guaranteeing 6.4% of sales.

Again, Toshiba and Acer stood out in the estimates, with growth of 49.4% and 45.8%, respectively. IDC also claims that these two companies are the ones that have the most potential in the long-term computer market, being followed by Apple.
Dell and HP had reasonable sales growth, close to 7%. However, they continue to lose market share to other manufacturers in the industry, maintaining 23% and 25% of the PC market, respectively.
(via AppleInsider)