Apple Cracks 10% PC Market-Share, Stock Now Trades at $300

For the first time in decades, Apple’s computer market share has reached 10%, as the company gears up to unveil the next-generation Mac OS at a planned October 20 event in Cupertino, California. The company’s shares also reached an all time high, rising above the $300 mark per share on Wednesday morning.

As the Mac maker prepares for the October 20 event scheduled to go down in the Town Hall of its Cupertino campus, analysts are signaling that Apple now controls a round 10% of the entire PC industry.

Citing data gathered by market research firm Gartner, Cult of Mac reports that Apple had 10.4% of U.S. PC shipments in the third quarter of 2010, making it the fourth largest computer maker in the U.S.

The researchers didn’t take iPads into account, the report notes. Although the iPad is not your generic PC, neither is the Mac, so the assertion is not necessarily biased.

The iPad, however, is known to have bitten off a considerable chunk of the PC market, even forcing out one emerging segment - the smartbook.

“Media tablet hype around devices such as the iPad has also affected consumer notebook growth by delaying some PC purchases, especially in the U.S. consumer market,” Gartner’s analysts wrote.

“Media tablets don’t replace primary PCs, but they affect PC purchases in many ways,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

“At this stage, hype around media tablets has led consumers and the channels to take a ‘wait and see’ approach to buying a new device,” Kitagawa added.

The news goes hand in hand with reports confirming that Apple shares have hit an all-time high of $300. Financial analysts put the Wall Street consensus at $350 per share, the same Cult of Mac reports.

Apple’s market capitalization is around $275 billion.