Mac Q1 2008 market share: 3.26 percent worldwide, 6.26 percent in the US

It's that time of the quarter again. With Apple yesterday releasing its financial results for the first calendar quarter of 2008, we can see how the Mac maker is performing in the wider PC market. According to my calculations (explained below), Apple's Macintosh now commands 3.26 percent of the worldwide market for PCs and 6.26 percent of the US market for PCs.

Here's how I arrived at these figures. As always, I averaged the Gartner and IDC figures (available below). According to these adjusted numbers, PC makers shipped 70.3 million PCs worldwide in the first quarter of 2008. Apple reports that it shipped 2.289 million Macs in the quarter, so we arrive at the 3.26 percent figure. In the US, PC makers shipped 15.575 million PCs in the quarter. Apple doesn't release US-only figures, but IDC and Gartner do; averaged, that number is 975,000, so Apple's share in the US was 6.26 percent.

Any math mistakes are my own and were inadvertent.

Trends
As always, some interesting trends emerge from the data. Apple is growing faster in the US than all other PC makers, a fact that is pointed out in virtually every story I've read about Apple's financial results. This is always notable but now more so than ever given the current economic crisis.

That said, Apple remains well behind the big two PC makers (Dell, HP) even in the US: Dell shipped five times as many PCs in the quarter as did Apple, and HP shipped four times as many PCs as Apple.

Worldwide, of course, Apple continues to be somewhat irrelevant, though I'd guess that at least some of the growth in the "other" segment can be attributed to the Mac maker. Apple's 2.3 million units sold worldwide isn't that far below number 5 Toshiba, though it's unclear how many other PC makers land above Apple in worldwide PC sales.

I'm curious that IDC and Gartner handled Acer so differently. Gartner's growth figures, which are based on a combination of last year's separate results for Acer and Gateway, is the more accurate (and relevant) of the two (Acer bought Gateway last year). It looks like Acer would be doing great it didn't make the purchase.

Here is the rough data for Q1 2008 (all grow rates are year over year):

Worldwide
Gartner: 71.1 million units, up 12.3 percent, inline with expectations
IDC: 69.5 million units, up 14.6 percent, more than estimates of 13.2 percent
Average: 70.3 million units

US
Gartner: 15.2 million units - up 3 percent
IDC: 15.95 million units - up 3.5 percent
Average: 15.575 million units

Top PC makers worldwide (IDC)
1. HP - 13.3 million units - 19.1 percent market share - up 17.4 percent
2. Dell  - 10.9 million units - 15.7 percent market share - up 21.6 percent
3. Acer  - 6.9 million units - 9.9 percent market share - up 66 percent (not counting Gateway)
4. Lenovo  - 4.7 million units - 6.9 percent market share - up 21 percent
5. Toshiba  - 3 million units - 4.4 percent market share - up 20.6 percent

Top PC makers worldwide (Gartner)
1. HP - 13 million units - 18.3 percent market share - up 17.5 percent
2. Dell - 10.6 million units - 14.9 percent market share - up 21.8 percent
3. Acer - 6.8 million units - 9.5 percent market share - up 25.2 percent
4. Lenovo - 4.8 million units - 6.7 percent market share - up 20.8 percent
5. Toshiba - 3.1 million units - 4.3 percent market share - up 19.3 percent

Top PC makers US (IDC)
1. Dell - 4.9 million units - 31 percent market share - up 15.6 percent
2. HP - 3.8 million units - 24.3 percent market share - flat
3. Acer - 1.4 million units - 8.7 percent market share - 92.9 percent (not counting Gateway)
4. Apple  - 950,000 units - 6 percent market share - up 25.1 percent
5. Toshiba - 832,000 units - 5.2 percent market share - up 6.1 percent

Top PC makers US (Gartner)
1. Dell - 4.8 million units - 31.4 percent market share - up 15.7 percent
2. HP - 3.8 million units - 25 percent market share - flat yoy
3. Acer - 1.4 million units - 9.1 percent market share - down 18.3 percent (Gateway)
4. Apple  - 1 million units - 6.6 percent market share - up 32.5 percent
5. Toshiba - 840,000 units - 5.5 percent market share - up 4.4 percent

Sources
Worldwide PC market sees sequential shipment growth in 1Q08, say IDC and Gartner
US slips, but global PC shipments remain healthy
Gartner Says Worldwide PC Market Grew 12 Percent in First Quarter of 2008
Study: Apple the fastest-growing U.S. PC maker