Editors’ note: DisplaySearch has updated its figures and said they made a miscalculation in Apple’s number. A corrected story has been posted.
According to a report by market research firm DisplaySearch, Apple’s notebook market share fell seven percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, putting the company in ninth place overall among major competitors.
Hewlett-Packard took the top spot surging more than 29 percent and capturing 20 percent of the market. Dell remained in second place with 15 percent market share, despite dropping two percent quarter to quarter, while Acer gained 29 percent to finish third with 13.3 percent market share.
Rounding out the list are Toshiba (9.8 percent share), Lenovo (8.4 percent), Fujitsu-Siemens (5.3 percent), Sony (5 percent), Asus (4.4 percent) and Apple (4.1 percent).
DisplaySearch said the uptick for some of the companies could be seen in the ads around Black Friday and the lower pricing strategies for the notebooks — a strategy Apple typically stays away from.
“Brands that were hungry for market share were quick to drop the street price premium, even running ‘free upgrade’ promotions encouraging customers to make the transition,” said John Jacobs, Director of Notebook PC Market Research. “Additionally, brands with a heavier reliance on the enterprise market faced the additional hurdle of convincing IT managers to embrace wide products and support additional configurations.”
Looking a year ahead to the fourth quarter 2007, DisplaySearch expects the notebook PC market to continue to surge, growing to almost 97 million units.