Apple No. 3 Music Retailer, No. 4 in Notebooks

Apple’s iTunes online store moved ahead of Amazon.com and Target to become the No. 3 music retailer in the US in the first quarter, according to the NPD Group, reports the Associated Press. 

Wal-Mart led with 15.8% of the market, followed by Best Buy with 13.8%, iTunes with 9.8%, Amazon.com with 6.7% and Target with 6.6%, according to NPD, which counted every 12 tracks sold online as the equivalent of an album/CD.

Digital music downloads in Q1 accounted for only 13.8% of all music purchases; 86.2% were sold in physical disc format, according to NPD, writes AppleInsider.

NPD attributed Apple’s Q1 gains to iPod sales during the holiday shopping season.

Meanwhile, Apple’s share of notebook/portable PCs climbed to 14.3% of US notebook sales in May, increasing nearly 2 percentage points from April’s 12.5% - and up from March’s 9.9% - according to NPD, reports AppleInsider.

Apple is now fourth in US notebook sales behind HP, Gateway and Toshiba.