Whereas Gartner has divided out tablets (leaving PC sales down for the first time since Q3 2009), Canalys decides to leave tablets in and show WW PC sales up 7.7%, with shipments reaching 88.6m units.
Meanwhile WW PC shipments for Q1 2011 total 84.3m units-- a 1.1% Y-o-Y. That means tablets could reflect 9% of total PC sales.
HP still leads the WW market, with 16.6% share (down by -5.8% from Q1 2010). Following are Acer (12.8% market share and -6.5% Y-o-Y growth) and Dell (11.3% market share and 2.8% Y-o-Y growth).
Apple makes in the top 5, reaching 4th place with 9.5% market share and impressive 187.9% growth-- again thanks to tablet shipments. The iPad and its sequel account for 74% of WW Q1 2011 tablet shipments (from total tablet shipments reaching 6.4m units).
Canalys predicts the tablet scene will see significant changes in the following months, as rival products from the likes of Acer, Asus, LG and RIM start hitting the market.
Of course, the tablet's rise comes at the expense of notebook and netbook shipments-- the analyst says W.European customers use their tablets as PCs, rather than as a media player or e-reader. The most common tablet functions include web browsing, email/messaging and social networking.
The analyst concludes tablets can represent "a real threat to PC and consumer electronics vendors"-- through its replacing traditional devices, including netbooks. Retailers should take note, and stock appropriately.