The Quarterly PC Tracker Survey released by IDC last week showed that the third quarter of 2010 was a good one for Apple in terms of PC sales in the United States. Apple's success in the PC market during this year's third quarter is a bit of a surprise for a couple of factors. First, the current state of economic crisis within the U.S. has left many consumers with not as much disposable income as compared to the past. Second, Apple has had to battle the overwhelming public notion that its PCs are very expensive and not marketed to the “average Joe.”

IDC's survey revealed that during the third quarter of 2010, Apple shipped 1.99 million Macs in the United States. That equals 10.6 percent of all the PCs shipped in nationwide during the time period, making Apple the United States' third-largest PC seller. Hewlett-Packard and Dell claimed the top two spots with shares of 24.3 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively. 

Although Apple appears to be far behind the two leaders, its third quarter share is the highest ever achieved in company history. Apple's sales of nearly two million PCs during the third quarter represents a 24 percent growth over 2009. To compare the company's skyrocketing numbers, the entire U.S. PC market grew just 3.8 percent over last year, and the numbers for industry leaders HP and Dell remained rather stagnant. Nationwide growth was projected to be around 11 percent, making this year's third quarter numbers a disappointment for other manufacturers not named Apple.

With the overall industry's numbers falling short, there has to be some reason why Apple is experiencing such a high degree of success. According to David Daoud, an analyst for IDC, Apple's popular iPad tablet could be why. Since its release earlier this year, the iPad has been an absolute hit with the public. Apple sold over three million units of the iPad during the second quarter, and its sales do not show many signs of slowing down anytime soon. Daoud suggests that the iPad's acclaim and popularity have produced a wave of success that the Mac can now ride on, similar to how the iPhone capitalized on the iPod's success in the past.

Daoud's assertion that the iPad has actually helped the Mac contradicts the predictions of many that the iPad would cannibalize Mac sales. Some view the iPad as a possible laptop replacement. Such being the case, many predicted that Mac sales would suffer. The CEO of Best Buy, for example, recently claimed that the iPad cut into nearly 50 percent of notebook sales. He later retracted the statement, but it did express what many thought would happen.

While Apple claimed a top three spot in IDC's U.S. list, it failed to make the top five in terms of worldwide numbers. HP held the top ranking with a 17.7 percent share of computers shipped worldwide, and Acer came in second with a 13 percent share. Dell, Lenovo, and Asus rounded out the top five with shares of 12.5, 10.3, and 5.4 percent, respectively.

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