Apple Set to Become Top PC Vendor as Global Market Share Hits 15%

Apple will overtake HP as the worlds top PC vendor by mid-2012, thanks to tremendous iPad growth and increasingly strong Mac sales.

Currently, HP holds the top spot at 16% of the PC market, but Apple is already sitting very closely behind at 15%, and the anticipated release of iPad 3 early next year could very well be the product that pushes Apple into the lead. This data comes from research firm Canalys, who paints a rosy picture for Apple but does caution the newly released Kindle Fire from Amazon will place some pressure on future iPad sales.

Related, the Washington Post reports that Mac market share is at a 15 year high of 5.2%, growing 24.6% in a year, while the general PC market had comparatively slower growth of just 5.3% in the same period. Also, while the iPad controls more than 60% of the tablet market officially, real-world usage statistics show the iPad accounts for a dominating 97% of web traffic from tablets, suggesting competing tablets are