Apple Nears 6 Percent Market Share in US

Apple’s computer business continues to grow, with its share of the notebook business in June 2007 growing to 17.6 percent according to one market research firm.

NPD says that the Cupertino company gained 2.2 percentage points since the same period last year, while data from competing research outfit IDC indicates that Apple has moved into the third place overall in US shipments.

This would mark the first time in 11 years that the company has managed to be this high on the list of top selling manufacturers in the US. In fact, its market share overall is at 5.9 percent, over a percentage point up from last year.

Notebook sales are making up a lot of Apple’s resurgence -- for example, in the last quarter desktop sales were up to 634,000 from 529,000 in the previous period, while notebook sales were up sharply to 1.13 million.

Another survey, done by research firm ChangeWave, illustrates Apple’s comeback even more starkly. Of the people who it said expect to buy a laptop within the next three months, more than one in four expect to purchase a Mac. The percentage is roughly the same for desktops.

The company is also doing a good job in keeping customers happy. 86 percent of those who have bought Macs within the last three months report being “very satisfied” with their purchase, which was the highest of any surveyed manufacturer.