Tech giants, Apple are now the proud owners of the largest share of the mobile-computing market thanks to a successful fourth quarter in 2010.

The surge in iPad sales in this period helped the company leapfrog competitors HP and Acer, seizing the market-leader crown in the process.

Apple’s market share now tops 17% after they were the only PC brand to shift more than 10 million units in Q4; a feat that analyst Richard Shim put down to the “magical and revolutionary” iPad device;

“While we anticipate increased competition in the tablet PC market later this year with the introduction of Android Honeycomb based tablets,” Shim said, “Apple’s iPad business is complementing a notebook line whose shipments widely exceed the industry average growth rate.”

The 59.6 million units of mobile PCs sold in Q4 of 2010 was the highest total since market researchers, DisplaySearch began counting figures in 1999. This peak has been attributed to the boom in the tablet market; a boom that seems to be continuing in to 2011.

DisplaySearch identified Apple’s “first mover advantage” that allowed them to sail to the top of the pile, but it would be unwise to assume that they will continue to dominate the market unchallenged; new tablets from Motorola, Samsung, Dell, HP and RIM will each have a part to play in how the market unfolds in 2011.

Apple will have quite a storm to weather if they are to retain this market share for another 12 months.

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