According to market research data for the second quarter of 2012, Apple's iPad displaced traditional PCs for students and educational institutions in sales.
Charlie Wolfe of Needham & Company said in a statement to investors on Tuesday that PC sales in education fell 265,000 units, or 13.9 percent, from the same period last year. Meanwhile, in June, Apple sold nearly a million Pad through its K-12 school curriculum, which it says is clear proof that the iPad is eating away at PC sales in the US education market.
Also during this time, the number of iPads sold to education buyers was roughly double Apple's Mac sales.
For Wolfe, this increase in iPad sales in the education market is just the beginning. He is confident that in the near future, the iPad will begin to crowd out PC sales in other, broader market segments.
The second quarter of 2012 turned out to be very successful for the iPad, while it was a time of alternating success for Mac computers. Mac sales were strong for the business sector, which saw a 56.6 percent annual increase in sales versus an 8.8 percent drop in PC sales, but global Mac sales were down 4.6 percent.
In July, Apple announced that it had hit a record quarterly iPad sales of 17 million units. However, Mac sales grew only 2 percent for the year, which was enough to hit a record 4 million units in the quarter.
