iPad Makes Apple America's Largest Computer Manufacturer (Sort of)

Oct

2010

Stuart Fox, iPadNewsDaily Staff Writer
05:51 PM ET

Graph of PC market share.
CREDIT: Deutche Bank

Depending on how you define a personal computer, Apple may have pulled ahead of Dell, HP and Acer to become America's largest computer manufacture, according to a new analysis from Deutche Bank. All of the major computer producers saw a drop in business in 2010, but the rise in iPad sales in the second quarter of this year pushed Apple above all others.

iPad sales rising while regular PC sales decline signifies an important shift in both the market and how consumers think of computing, said Fortune Magazine, who first reported the Deutcha Bank analysis. Counting the iPad adds 18 points to Apple's market share, leaving the company controlling 25 percent of the US computer market.

However, the iPad lacks a USB port, the ability to download significant non-Apple applications and the modularity generally associated with PCs. Of course, with phones, cars, cameras, watches, books and nearly every other device sporting more computing power than the entire Apollo program, even defining the PC market is becoming harder and harder these days.