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Mobile PC Shipments Grew by 44 Percent in 2011

Overall mobile PC shipments grew 12 percent Quarter over Quarter and 44 percent Year over Year -- reaching 88 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. This was driven by continuing strong demand for media tablets, according to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch.

Tablet PC shipment growth was 42 percent Q/Q and 210 percent Y/Y -- reaching 31.7 million units in Q4’11. Notebook PC shipments were flat Q/Q but up nearly 11 percent Y/Y -- reaching 56.3 million units.

As expected, consumer mobile PC adoption was focused on tablets, holding up demand in notebooks. "Mobile PC brands read the writing on the wall in the fourth quarter," said Richard Shim, Senior Analyst at NPD DisplaySearch.

Apple's 26.6 percent share in Q4’11 is largely due to its dominant position in tablet PCs, which propelled it to nearly three times the shipments of HP. The other brands in the top five market share rankings relied almost exclusively on notebook PC shipments to establish their positions.

HP maintained the top notebook PC ranking with a 15.5 percent share, although it lost some of its lead as shipments into North America, China, Latin America, and Asia Pacific faltered. Dell and Acer essentially tied for second place with 11.8 percent each.

Dell had strong results in EMEA, while Acer continued to struggle in the notebook PC market. Lenovo continues to build on momentum started early this year with strong growth in China and Asia Pacific with a dip in North America, and maintained its #4 position in notebook PCs, gaining some share in Q4’11. Apple leapfrogged over ASUS and Toshiba to capture #5 with 8.3 percent market share.

In the media tablet market, Apple continued its strong growth across all its regions, capturing 59.1 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Newcomers Amazon and Barnes and Noble firmly planted their flags in the market, at #2 and #5, respectively -- Amazon with 16.7 percent share and Barnes and Noble with 3.5 percent. Both brands focused on North America in their market entries.

Samsung improved in all its key markets, particularly EMEA, helping it to reach 6.7 percent market share. ASUS continued its strong results in North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific as it took 4.6 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2011.

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