Apple up in Europe despite wider PC sales decline

PC shipments were down in Western Europe, dropping over 11 percent during the third quarter of 2011 vs. the same period a year ago, according to Gartner.

Total shipments for the quarter were 14.8 million total, down from 16.7 million, but Apple bucked the trend and saw a nearly 20 percent increase in shipments year over year. One of the biggest hits the market took in general was a 40 percent decline in mini notebook (including netbook) shipments. Gartner doesn’t include tablets in its PC shipment outlooks, but it’s very possible that the iPad could have been a considerable factor in that precipitous drop. Even without the iPad included, Apple still saw a 19.6 percent growth in its computer shipments between the third quarter of 2010 and the same period in 2011. Shipments grew from 947,000 in Q3 2010 to 1.13 million in Q3 2011, and Apple’s market share jumped from 5.7 to 7.6 percent, thanks to the declining fortunes of other PC manufacturers.