Sunday October 26 3:37 PM EST
Third-quarter PC sales jump 16 percent, led by Compaq
By Kourosh Karimkhany
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26 (Reuters) - Worldwide third-quarter personal computer sales jumped
16 percent amid steady demand from consumers, strong spending by businesses and falling prices
that made the machines more affordable, two market research firms said Sunday.
PC powerhouses Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) and Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) continued to
gain market share during the quarter at the expense of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)
and smaller manufacturers, market researchers Dataquest and International Data Corp. said in their
quarterly reports.
''The war between Compaq and Dell is creating many casualties,'' said Dataquest senior analyst
Charles Smulders. ''Their individual gains are at the expense of most of the other PC
manufacturers.''
Worldwide, PC shipments in the third quarter rose to 19.55 million from 16.91 million the year
before, according to IDC. In the United States, shipments jumped 20 percent to 8.38 million from
6.98 million, IDC said.
Unit shipments for Compaq, the world's biggest PC maker, rose 56 percent in the third quarter to
2.77 million PCs, giving the Houston-based company 13.7 percent of the worldwide market,
according to Dataquest. In the United States, one in five PCs sold was a Compaq machine.
Dell, the No. 3 vendor behind Compaq and IBM, saw its shipments rise 60 percent to 1.22 million,
giving it 6 percent of the worldwide market.
IBM's shipments rose a modest 11 percent to 1.66 million for an 8.2 percent market share. IBM's
corporate PCs, portables and servers -- network computers -- sold well, but its consumer Aptiva
line was overpriced compared with the rest of the market, dragging down total growth, IDC said.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HWP) had the biggest shipment increase. Worldwide shipments jumped 68
percent to 1.18 million, giving H-P the No. 4 spot with 5.8 percent of the market, Dataquest said.
Closely held Packard Bell NEC Inc. was the fifth-biggest vendor worldwide. Its shipments declined
7.6 percent to 940,000, giving the company a 4.6 percent share of the market, Dataquest said.
Geographically, Europe, paced by France and Italy, and Southeast Asia had strong demand, IDC
said. But worldwide growth was hampered by Japan, where a wobbly economy and high prices led
to a 12 percent unit shipment decrease, IDC said.
More news for referenced ticker symbols: CPQ, DELL, HWP, IBM, and related categories
and industries: Computer-Hardware, Computer-Peripherals, telecommunications, stock capsules,
treasury. |
