IDC on Canada and Apple

Canada may have the highest proportional number of Mac users in the world after recent gains by Apple, according to an IDC study of computer sales in the country during the spring. The American company broke into double-digit share there for the first time by accounting for 10 percent of all non-server computers shipped between March and June. Such a gain left it only behind world leaders HP and Dell, who held on to 22.1 percent and 20.7 percent respectively.

Most of Apple's climb is attributed to a sharp rise in its sales of MacBooks, which jumped 24.8 percent from year to year. HP by comparison saw its shipments of any type of PC plummet 25.3 percent in that same period. Acer was still the clear leader of the notebook category in Canada with 57.5 percent of the field due to its dominance of netbooks, but the researchers suggest that Apple held virtually all of the market outside of that price range.

"The second quarter has clearly indicated a shift in purchasing patterns, with customers either buying low-cost notebook PCs, including mini notebooks, or choosing Apple products," IDC senior analyst Tim Brunt said.

Overall computer sales dropped a sharp 14.6 percent compared to spring 2008 due to the economy, suggesting that both Acer and Apple were bucking the overall trend of the industry in Canada and faring better than the average for notebooks. Portable sales grew by 9.9 percent in the year, while desktops saw the steepest fall of any category at 36.8 percent.

Apple also gained share in the US during the spring but has a disproportionately smaller share of the industry in its home market. Why this is hasn't been made clear, though Apple has been helped by having a wider reach with its retail stores in the country, where the population is concentrated in a smaller number of large cities than in the US.

By Electronista Staff

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