Apple Named Top 'Mobile PC' Maker, Thanks to iPad

Despite , Apple still managed to sell an impressive number of iPads in the fourth quarter, making Cupertino the number-one "mobile PC" maker during that time period.

According to data from NPD DisplaySearch, Apple shipped about 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter. But like that have Apple as the world's "number-one PC maker," NPD's numbers combine tablets sales with PC sales.

As such, "nearly 80 percent of Apple's mobile PC shipments were iPads," NPD said, with 18.7 million shipped during the quarter.

Coming in behind Apple was HP with 8.7 million shipped, followed by Dell at 6.9 million, Acer at 6.8 million, and Lenovo at 6.3 million. Take out those iPads, though, and Apple falls to number five behind its PC rivals, with 4.6 million Macs shipped.

On tablets alone, meanwhile, HP falls off that list; . Apple is number one with 59.1 percent of the market, but the debut of the tablet in November helped Amazon pick up 16.7 percent of the tablet market during the last quarter. Samsung, Asus, and Barnes & Noble round out the top five.

"Mobile PC brands read the writing on the wall in the fourth quarter," said Richard Shim, NPD DisplaySearch senior analyst. "Consumer demand for notebooks was expected to be weak following modest back-to-school results, especially with the expected launch of Windows 8 on the horizon, and increasing interest in tablet PCs. As a result, brands focused their typical holiday price cuts on tablets to boost demand."

Amazon said it was Kindle devices per week over the holidays, which included its non-tablet e-readers.

Tablet Overtaking PCs
During a recent appearance at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the iPad has cannibalized Mac sales, and reiterated his belief that .

"The Mac is still growing, and I think it could still grow, but I strongly believe that the tablet market will surpass the unit sales of the PC market," Cook said. "It's just a matter of the rate and speed and time that that happens."

"The iPad has cannibalized Mac sales," Cook continued, but Apple isn't too worried about the trend. The company would prefer that customers move from one Apple product to the next than desert Cupertino altogether.

"We never want to hold back one of our teams from building the absolute greatest thing, even if takes some sales from another product area," Cook said. Ultimately, "we [just] want them buying Apple stuff."