Hewlett-Packard Co. maintained its lead over Dell Inc. as the world’s largest PC supplier in the third quarter of 2007, extending a slim margin it established last year, market researcher IDC said Wednesday.
HP’s PC market share increased in the U.S., fast approaching leader Dell, whose market share fell, according to IDC’s quarterly report of PC unit shipments.
The number of PCs shipped worldwide was 66.85 million, a 15.5 per cent year-over-year increase. The jump was attributed to a strong demand for portable computers, including laptops and ultraportables, and PC demand in the small- and -medium business market. While adoption of laptops and ultraportables increased worldwide, desktop shipments decreased in the U.S., the survey said.
HP shipped 13.1 million PCs worldwide in the third quarter, a 19.6 per cent market share and a 33 per cent year-over-year increase. Dell followed in second place, shipping 10.18 million units, a 3.8 per cent increase over the previous year, IDC said. Lenovo Group Ltd., Acer Inc. and Toshiba Corp. followed in the third, fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
Acer, which became the world’s third-largest PC vendor when it acquired Gateway Inc. on Wednesday, recorded a 59.2 per cent increase in worldwide PC shipments. These quarterly figures are before the acquisition was final.
HP has momentum on its side, while Dell is in the process of restructuring, said Loren Loverde, program director at IDC. At the same time, many users are making the conversion from desktops to laptops as they get more experience using PCs, Loverde said.
Demand for PCs over the next few years will continue to increase due to vendor competition and increased commercial spending, IDC projected.
