Apple triples server market share


Gartner subsidiary Dataquest reports that the US server market grew 3.1 percent in Q3 '02, as server shipments totaled 488,858, up from 435,630 units in Q3 '01, according to preliminary statistics. The report states that Apple is the No. 5 supplier of servers, but shipped only about one-fifth the total of No. 4 maker Sun.

Additionally, though Cupertino's numbers are still small -- 5,700 units for the quarter, that still represents over three times the unit volume the company moved in the same quarter last year. Apple's share of the market rose from 0.4 percent in '01 to 1.2 percent in '02 on the back of its new Xserve rackmount server.

Dell regained the No.1 position in the US server market garnering 26.3 percent of the market. HP fell to second place with 25.9 percent market share, followed by IBM, Sun Microsystems and Apple, respectively.

Editor's note: It would be interesting to see a breakdown on just who is buying Xserves. I will speculate that the majority went to small and medium-size businesses, including a fair number of hosting companies.

It is worth noting that Apple announced when the Xserve shipped that it had received pre-orders for 4,000 units.

Also, it remains to be seen whether the mothership can sustain this single-quarter spike in server sales. Sales of particular models often spike after a new or revised product introduction only to sink back to historic levels.

What's your take?

(Forgive the grandiose headline on this piece. Good news has been rather sparse of late -- just had to shout it from the roof top.)