Apple becomes no. 1 PC maker: Canalys

Apple Inc overtook Hewlett-Packard
Co as the world's largest vendor of personal computers in the fourth quarter,
helped by booming demand for its iPads, research firm
Canalys said.

In the fourth quarter, tablet demand helped drive the global PC market 16 per
cent higher than a year ago to 120 million computers, Canalys said.

Excluding tablets, the market fell 0.4 per cent from a year ago, said
Canalys, one of the first research firms to include tablets in PC forecasts.
Other firms have said they will likely follow.

Last week, Skyrocketing demand for Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad helped the
world's most valuable company to trounce Wall Street expectations after a rare
miss last quarter, drawing applause from analysts.

Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones -- its flagship product -- and 15.43 million
iPad tablets, doubling from a year earlier and easily outpacing already
heightened expectations for a strong holiday season.

At least seven brokerages raised their price targets on the company's
stock.

J.P. Morgan Securities, which sees iPad as a "budding growth engine", said
that while the magnitude of the tablet's beat was not as big as the iPhone's,
the resurgence suggests that there is more than just one major product cycle at
Apple.

Citigroup, which raised its price target on Apple stock by $100 to $600,
expects "another stellar product cycle this year with an iPad refresh in
March".

The growth momentum should be driven by demand in China as well as the low
channel inventories, Citigroup analysts said.

JP Morgan believes that the underlying strength related to iPhone and iPad
market penetration has staying power, and expects shares of Apple to appreciate
in the near term.

And, the stellar results only emphasise the point that 2012 is going to be a
good year for Apple, analysts said.

They believe that new product introductions, such as the iPad 3 and iPhone 5,
will just add to the growth story.