iSuppli on Q3 Notebooks

Despite a major shift from desktops towards notebooks in the summer, Apple slid slid significantly in its worldwide market share over the period, according to a new iSuppli study. The MacBook creator lost exactly a half percentage point of influence and dropped from 3.7 percent of the market in the spring to 3.2 percent the following season, leaving it at seventh place. Most incumbents were stable and saw HP lead world market share with 18.8 percent, or 14.9 million PCs; Dell claimed 13.9 percent, while Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba managed 12.2 percent, 7.5 percent and 4.6 percent each.

The research group doesn't explain Apple's shortfall, though the poorer performance arrived late into the lifecycle of early 2008 MacBook models. Acer, in contrast, is characterized as the fastest mover and grew 79 percent year over year helped in part by its shift towards netbooks like the Aspire One. ASUS has also moved quickly both through the use of the Eee PC line and its general focus on notebooks to claim sixth place above Apple.

iSuppli also notes that notebook shipments have allegedly topped those of desktops for the first time during a summer quarter, with 38.6 million portables just slightly edging out 38.5 million desktops. The shift is described as a virtue of "momentum" towards portables and through cost that lets many users afford these systems that couldn't before.

By Electronista Staff