Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) beats crucial markets of United Kingdom, Italy, Spain France and Germany increasing to 0.1 per cent year over year to 19.2 per cent, TheStreet reports.

Apple Inc.'s growth in Spain was especially impressive at it increased to 7.6 per cent from 3.1 per cent around the same period of 2013.

In Australia, market share grew to 33.1 per cent from 31.1 per cent.

An impressive growth was also noteworthy in Japan where there was a year over year increase to 57.6 per cent from 49 per cent.

In a detailed report from Worldpanel ComTech, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) had a remarkable performance in January, February and March - the first quarter of 2014.

Sales had reverted back progressively more in Europe, Japan and Australia.

"Apple regained ground in the first quarter of 2014, primarily due to the strong performance of the iPhone 5S, growing its sales share in Europe, Japan and Australia. By contrast, Windows had a tough start to the year as a result of its entry-level Nokia models facing fierce competition from low-end Motorola, LG and Samsung Android smartphones," Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said.

In Japan, 30 per cent of the users remained attracted to Apple's iPhone design, 30 per cent for its 4g capability and 29 per cent for its reliability.

"Japan's love affair with Apple shows no sign of fading. Even though the iPhone has now been available on Japan's largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, for a number of months Apple still accounts for more than 40% of sales on the network. The success of the iPhone is also filtering through to the iPad, with almost a quarter of Japanese iPhone owners also owning an iPad. With smartphone penetration in Japan lagging well behind Europe and the US, Japan will remain a key growth market for Apple, Sunnebo added.

However, for the Chinese consumers, phablet remained unarguably the most in demand, especially those with 5" and up screen display. Phablets' market share is at 40 per cent (a call for Apple's rumoured larger screen display?)

"It's clear that phablets really are changing the way Chinese consumers use smartphones. More than one in five phablet owners now watch mobile TV on a daily basis, half do so at least once a month, and this is without widespread availability of 4G. As 4G infrastructure expands in China, the demand for data is going to be unprecedented, paving the way for carriers to boost revenues significantly through larger data packages," Sunnebo explained.

Meanwhile, various analysts raised their price targets of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Thursday following the company's announcement of its earnings for second quarter of the fiscal year 2014.

Canaccord Genuity gave Apple a price target of $600.00 to $610.00 in a research note obtained by American Banking News Report. Canaccord gave the stock a "buy" rating.

Analysts at Nomura rated the stock "neutral" and a $574.00 price target.

RBC capital also raised their price target on Apple from $590.00 to $625.00, rating the stock from "outperform" to "buy".

Credit Agricole also raised their rating "outperform" to "buy" with price target of $695.00 from $610.00.

Cowen and Company gave Apple a price target of $630.00 from and rated the company "outperform".

Analysts at Mizuho raised their price target from $575.00 to $625.00, giving the stock a "buy" rating.

Credit Agricole upgraded shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "buy" with a pricing target of $695.00 from $610.00.

Bank of America raised their price target of the stock at $615.00 from $590.00.