Apple’s U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-3Q11 (Gartner)
Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the third quarter of 2011, offering up a picture of market performance during the quarter. Riding the strength of the MacBook Air, Apple experienced aggressive 21.5% year-over-year growth to take third place in a U.S. market that grew by only 1.1% overall.
It’s been an extremely busy day of software releases for Apple as the company has rolled out updates across all of its platforms to support iOS 5 and iCloud. To help summarize the events of today, we’ve put together this wrap-up to highlight the myriad of releases.
Alongside today’s release of iOS 5, Apple also pushed out version 4.4 of the software for its iOS-based Apple TV set-top box. As noted by Macworld, the update brings a number of new features to Apple TV.
With iOS 5 and OS X 10.7.2 rolling out to users, Apple has officially flipped the switch to turn on iCloud for all users. The iCloud site lost its beta label earlier today and MobileMe users are now able to migrate their accounts to iCloud once they have upgraded their devices OS X 10.7.2 and iOS 5.
In line with Apple’s announced schedule calling for a release today, iOS 5 is now available to download for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch users. Users can obtain the update by connecting their devices to iTunes and clicking the “Check for Update” button.
As part of Apple’s rollout of its iCloud service today, Apple has just released OS X 10.7.2. The new update includes support for iCloud and will ensure that users have full access to their iCloud-hosted data across all of their devices.
Yesterday, Macworld reported that Sprint would be selling the iPhone 4S with an unlocked micro-SIM slot, potentially allowing users traveling abroad to simply slip in a local micro-SIM card and avoid high roaming costs.
While some German customers appear to have been the first to receive deliveries of the iPhone 4S several days ahead of the official launch date of this Friday, it now appears that the premature deliveries are making their way to the United States.
In line with the announced October 12th launch date for iOS 5, Apple has also transitioned its iPod touch line to begin shipping with the operating system pre-installed.
One of the iCloud features launched immediately in the United States upon the service’s announcement back in June was “iTunes in the Cloud”, offering users the ability to re-download music previously purchased from the iTunes Store to any registered device.
Apple continues to make preparations for today’s iOS 5 launch with the release of its newAirPort Utility [App Store] app to allow users to administer AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, and Time Capsule base stations.
Apple’s Find My Friends app, which was announced last week when the iPhone 4S was unveiled, is now live in the App Store [link opens iTunes]. Find My Friends requires iOS 5, which is scheduled for release today.
Apple seems to be putting the finishing touches on their new iCloud service. iCloud.com has been updated this evening with a new login screen. The service now shows icons in the background and a new login that no longer is listed as “beta”. iCloud.com, itself, still seems restricted to developers for the most part.
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