Apple Computer Is in The News: Apple's Comeback Story

Apple Computer again cracked the top three in U.S. PC sales for the third quarter, according to surveys released Wednesday by both Gartner and IDC.

Worldwide, Apple didn't make the top five PC vendors, according to both firms. But within the U.S., IDC estimated that Apple finished in a virtual dead heat with Acer for third place, just 2,000 units behind the Asian PC maker. Gartner, meanwhile, said that Apple took the third-place spot outright, topping Acer by 65,000 PCs sold.

Both IDC and Gartner retroactively ranked Apple fourth in sales for the second quarter of 2007, if measured against a merged Acer-Gateway business. If treated as separate companies, Apple would have maintained its third-place ranking.

Both sets of data are preliminary, the firms said. The PC sales estimates include desktops, laptops, and X86 servers, but not handheld PCs. Ultraportables and so-called mini-notes were also included, although Gartner estimated that they represented just 3 percent of the market.

Domestically, Dell maintained its top spot, capturing 31.9 percent of the market according to Gartner, with 5.25 million PCs sold; IDC said that Dell's market share was 32.0 percent, with 5.44 million PCs sold. Both firms estimated that Dell grew between 11 and 12 percent from the same quarter a year ago.