IDC

What if the iPad were a PC?

If you throw tablets in the mix, Apple just became the U.S.'s No. 1 computer maker

"The iPad," writes Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore in a note to clients issued Monday, "is driving a rapid, unprecedented shift in the structure of the computing industry."

To illustrate that point, Whitmore has taken a chart of domestic personal computer market shares over the past seven quarters as measured by IDC, which doesn't consider tablets to MORE

'Consumer fatigue' vs. the 'halo effect'

Apple breaks the 10% U.S. market share barrier as netbook sales continue to sag

Although they disagree, as usual, about the details, the message from Gartner and IDC's quarterly PC market share reports Wednesday was the same: Apple is going gangbusters, the rest not so much.

IDC's Bob O'Donnell puts it most succinctly:

"Apple's influence on the PC market continues to grow, particularly in the U.S., as the company's iPad has had some MORE

IDC: Android leads iOS in mobile and TV developer interest

Developers seem to be interested in the type of numbers that Android is producing.

According to an Appcelerator/IDC report published today, mobile developers have a growing interest in developing for Google's (GOOG) Android, even over Apple's (AAPL) iOS platform. The interest is likely related, at least in part, to Android's exploding market share.

72% of developers say Android "is best positioned to power a large number and variety of connected devices in the future," MORE

Apple is grabbing mobile ad share from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Nokia

Smaller rivals like Jumptap and Millennial Media are also gaining, according to IDC

The pie chart at right is somewhat premature, given that it is IDC's best guess -- via Bloomberg Businessweek -- of what the $500 million U.S. mobile advertising market will look three months from now.

But it's an indication of how the winds have shifted. Apple (AAPL), which had 0% share of the market before it bought Quattro Wireless MORE

The pros weigh in: 25% of all smartphones will be Android by 2014

Both think Android will rise, but both are underestimating.

IDC came out with a report earlier this week saying that Android would be exploding, taking a great deal of market share away from other smartphone platforms.  By 2014, they think Android will be on a quarter of all smartphones, behind only Symbian.

Gartner this morning took it one step further.  Their forecasts have Android neck and neck with Symbian in 2014.

I think they MORE

With iPad, Apple is No. 3 in portables

If you count tablets as notebook PCs, Apple just passed Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell

Apple is usually considered an also-ran in the global PC market.

But the chart at right, taken from a note to clients issued Friday by Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore, tells a very different story.

Whitmore believes that investors will increasing include tablet computers when assessing market share trends, and this diagram illustrates what that might look like.

Starting with MORE

Apple, Android, RIM gain market share

Nokia, Microsoft and Linux continue to lose ground in the shift to smarter phones

A report from Gartner issued Tuesday confirmed the trends reported three weeks earlier by IDC. Both tracking firms are registering a massive shift as users around the world trade in devices designed to make phone calls and send text messages for what are essentially pocket-sized computers.

Gartner recorded a 0.9% drop in cellphone sales for 2009 and a MORE

IDC: 300,000 iPhone apps before 2011

A research firm looks into the near future and sees ... an Apple "iPad" next year

Apple (AAPL) figures prominently in IDC's top 10 predictions for the coming year, released Thursday and available here (registration required). The relevant bullet points:

The "iPad" will finally arrive. Last year, we predicted that we would not see the then-rumored Apple tablet in 2009. This year, however, we predict that Apple will finally introduce this new MORE

Mac ads haunt Steve Ballmer

Shareholders press Microsoft's CEO about Apple's marketing campaign

Those Get-a-Mac ads make "you all look like a buffoon," one long-time shareholder (and father of four Mac-using children) told Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer at the company's annual meeting Thursday. "I'm just wondering why your marketing group can't do something to try to rein in this next generation, because you've got a real bad image out there."

"We all watch television," Ballmer responded, MORE

Macs grab record U.S. market share

Gartner puts Apple at 8.8%, IDC at 9.4%. This bodes well for next week's earnings report

Apple (AAPL) computers sold surprisingly well in a shaky economy last quarter, according to a pair of preliminary reports issued Wednesday by Gartner and IDC.

The big winner this summer was Acer, which became the world's undisputed No. 2 computer maker, after Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), on the strength of netbooks that sell for under $400.

But Mac sales MORE