Apple's iPad Helps Propel It To The Top PC-Manufacturer Slot; 1984 Revisited: The Revolutionary Underdog is Now Officially Big Brother

It's official: according to new analysis from market analysis company Canalys, Apple is now the dominant PC maker in the world, reversing its position in the David vs. Goliath tale it told long ago during a Super Bowl spot called "1984."

The new numbers out today actually say a lot about the computer market outside, and including, Apple Inc. In the last quarter of 2012, one in every three PCs bought was a tablet, says Canalys. The tablet market grew by 75 percent in the last quarter of 2012. This sparks a debate about whether the lower-cost, lower-versatility (computationally speaking) tablets should be considered part of the PC market. One argument for inclusion goes back to the origin of the letters PC - and tablets could certainly be counted as personal computers in the broad sense.

So if you count them, out of that big chunk of tablet PCs, Apple's various iPad models accounted for 50 percent of devices shipped, with 22.9 million iPads shipped out of Apple's total 27 million computer units. Apple's success was driven by very strong sales of the iPad mini, helping the former Cupertino cub grow into a Microsoft-eclipsing monster. Microsoft, by the way, came away with a scanty single-digit share of that market. Only 3 percent of tablets shipped in Q4 of 2012 were based on Windows 8.

Which brings us to the changing of the guards. Remember when this Ridley Scott-directed Super Bowl ad appeared during a commercial break the third quarter of the 1984 Super Bowl?

The dystopian future was being run by Big Brother, also known as Big Blue, also known as IBM. Everyone was forced to conform to the bland uncreative soulless norm for computing. But a plucky, sexy, and unique Apple - the voice of the few, of the underdog, being chased by security guards - runs at the overbearing screen and hurls a hammer through it, freeing all of the drones from their overlord.

That was how they announced Macintosh. Now that Apple is big brother, will there ever be another small, revolutionary underdog that challenges it? Or are we all now living in the utopian future imagined by the ad, albeit ruled by those who once fought against it?

Canalys via Techcrunch