Apple's US laptop share hits 10.6 in the second quarter

Despite IT spending hitting the skids, according to Forrester, Apple's US laptop market share hit double digits for the first time, leaping from 6.6 percent market share in Q2 2007 to 10.6 percent market share in Q2 2008, as The Register details.

Yes, it's only the laptop market, but as more and more of the market shifts to portables...this is good news for Apple, indeed.

Globally, Apple's overall share is not as rich, at a reported 3.3 percent, in part because its European market share still sags at 5.5 percent. Net Applications, however, puts Apple's global Mac market share at 7.86 percent as of September 2008.

Still, one suspects Apple can afford to be patient. All indicators point up and to the right these days for the iconic computer (and phone, and music device, and entertainment, and...) company. Microsoft, facing competition from Google Chrome (and Google Apps), Apple's Mac, and a general move away from operating systems qua operating systems, has never looked so vulnerable.

For the record, while I have certainly done my part to encourage Apple's bump in market share, I can't take all the credit. :-) Just look at this classroom at the Missouri School of Journalism:

(Credit: Mac.Blorge.com)

Not a pretty sight, if you're Microsoft.

[jrepenning]

Wow ... JOURNALISM schools ... way more effective than seeding elementary schools ... get all the reviewers on your side ... brilliant!

[riargce]

I don't know what the Missouri School of Journalism's policy on student computers is, but three siblings of mine are in college today and all were mandated to buy computers (all got laptops, don't know if that part was mandatory). At least one of the three schools mandated (and issued) Apple laptops to their students. I wonder if the plethora of Macs in the picture are student choice. Please don't take this as knocking Apple, this comment is posted from a MacBook. Mostly, I am just curious how many schools are mandating laptops for students and how many are choosing the vendor on the student's behalf?

[stahnma]

Why does Apple get so much coverage on 'The Open Road'? The last time I checked, they contribute almost nothing to open source, and in fact normally take open projects and then close them, put DRM on them, and tell you what you can and can't write for their products. I get that Apple isn't Microsoft, but they are not Open either. I grow very tired of Apple getting coverage in Open Source circles.