| | Kemble Hi! Corporations Spur Sales of PCs
By PUI-WING TAM
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 19, 2004; Page B8
Corporate purchasing fueled world-wide sales of personal computers in the third quarter, with companies replacing computers at a rapid rate, according to two research firms.
PC shipments rose 9.7% and 12% from a year earlier, according to Gartner Inc. and IDC, respectively, largely driven by corporate purchasing. Shipments of consumer PCs, which had been supporting a lot of PC sales, weren't as strong, the two companies said. In total, Gartner said 46.9 million PCs were shipped in the third quarter, while IDC said the number was 44.2 million.
"Companies were refreshing their computers over the quarter," said Roger Kay, an analyst at IDC. "A lot of older PCs have reached the point of being so old that companies now want the faster and newer computers." He said commercial demand for PCs, which has been rising for the past few quarters, was particularly strong in the U.S. and Europe.
Charles Smulders, an analyst at Gartner, said consumer demand tapered off during the quarter. While U.S. consumers purchased many laptop computers, sales of desktops were slow, even in the critical back-to-school shopping season. He said third-quarter growth overall looked weaker than in some previous quarters because it was compared with particularly strong sales from a year earlier.
The PC-shipment results are a closely watched indicator of the direction of the overall technology market.
Both research firms said Dell Inc. extended its leadership in the PC arena over close rival Hewlett-Packard Co. For the past few years, the two companies have been cutting prices and costs in order to trump one another and have swapped the top spot several times.
In the latest quarter, Dell increased its world-wide market share to 16.8%, from 15.2% a year earlier, according to Gartner. IDC said Dell's market share expanded to 18.2% from 16.9%. The results show Dell has cemented the lead it has taken in the PC market this year.
H-P's market share in PCs was 15% in the third quarter, flat with a year earlier, according to Gartner. IDC said H-P's market share shrank to 16.2% from 16.6%.
Write to Pui-Wing Tam at pui-wing.tam@wsj.com |
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