Apple's Server Market Share Grows 273% From Xserve

by , 3:30 PM EST, October 28th, 2002

Gartner Dataquest has released a new report on the server market during the September quarter that has some surprising results for Mac Observers. According to Dataquest, Apple is the number 5 server vendor in the US market, though Apple didn't register on the world market. Apple's new found server strength comes after Apple introduced the Xserve, its rack mount dual-processor server powered by an unlimited client-license Mac OS X Server.

Apple shows up with some 5,700 units shipped, up 273% over the year ago period, when the company shipped some 1,525 servers. That represents a market share of 1.2%, up from .4% from last year. From Dataquest:

The United States server market continued to show signs of recovery with a 12.2 percent increase in the third quarter of 2002, with shipments of 488,858 units, up from 435,620 in the third quarter of 2001 (see Table 2). Dell regained the No.1 position in the U.S 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.

Table 2
Preliminary U.S. Server Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q02 (Units)

Company 3Q02 Shipments 3Q02 Market Share (%) 3Q01 Shipments 3Q01 Market Share (%) Growth (%)
Dell 128,426 26.3 101,330 23.3 26.7
Hewlett-Packard 126,526 25.9 127,183 29.2 -0.5
IBM 57,251 11.7 49,205 11.3 16.4
Sun Microsystems 33,967 6.9 30,088 6.9 12.9
Apple 5,700 1.2 1,525 0.4 273.8
Others 136,988 28.0 126,289 29.0 8.5
Total 488,858 100.0 435,620 100.0 12.2

Apple's position at #5 does not make the company a powerhouse, as it distantly trails #4 vendor, Sun, with less than 1/6 that company's server shipments, but Xserve shipments represent a revenue stream almost totally new to Apple.

The report indicates that server shipments increased by some 3.1% across the board, but stresses that this is because of the damage done to the economy by the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center last September. At that time, computer shipments fell off drastically. The report does not offer additional commentary concerning Apple.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This is very promising news for Apple. 5,700 units shipped is not a huge number, but it does indicate interest in Apple's offering from a very important market. The real test will be to see the current quarter's numbers. If Apple can sustain some momentum with Xserve sales, it will have a positive feedback effect, adding to the company's credibility in this new space, and attracting further notice.