This past May, widely respected market research firm IDC began counting iPads and other portable devices as PCs. CNET included a note from IDC that stated, "For the first time, IDC is forecasting PC microprocessor units by architecture, including those based on x86 (Intel and Advanced Micro Devices) and those based on ARM." With that shift, Apple is now positioned to overtake HP as the leading notebook vendor in 2012.

When Steve Jobs claimed Apple was the number one mobile device company in the world this past January, based on combined sales of MacBooks, iPads, iPods, and iPhones, eyebrows went up. He said, "Apple is a mobile devices company. This is what we do." Industry sources now agree.

DigiTimes quotes industry sources and reports that Apple is projected to "ship 15 million MacBooks in 2012, bringing the combined shipments of notebooks and tablets to a total of 75 million units, accounting for 25-30 percent of the global notebook market".

HP, which shipped 40 million notebooks in 2010 and is projected to ship 45-50 million notebooks in 2011, is not expected to keep pace with Apple in 2012. Even with the recent launch of the TouchPad tablet, no one anticipates HP being able to steal significant market from Apple and close a 30 million unit gap.

Christian Zibreg from 9to5Mac pulled a nice quote on the subject from Richard Kerris, HP's vice president of worldwide developer relations. In an interview with The Loop yesterday, Kerris said, "It would be ignorant for us to say that we are going to take it [the market] away from Apple. We think there is a better opportunity for us to go after the enterprise space and those consumers that use PCs."

Well then. Long live the king!