Jim and thread,
Not sure if the following has been posted:
______
From Computer Retail News
November 10, 1997, Issue: 190
Section: News
Compaq leaps ahead of Toshiba in retail notebook share
By Roger C. Lanctot
La Jolla, Calif.-A month after several sales auditing companies showed Compaq Computer edging out Toshiba America for the top spot in the retail notebook-computer market, Computer Intelligence's September StoreBoard retail sales report shows Compaq taking a commanding 18 percent lead over Toshiba.
"It's the killer story of the month," said Matt Sargent, computer analyst for CI. "Up until three months ago, Toshiba had Intel-like market share in notebooks. In the past two months, Compaq has come back and stripped them of a lot of that share."
The StoreBoard report, based on sales figures from 1,500 outlets, showed Compaq holding a 42.4 percent share of notebook unit sales for September, compared with 24.3 percent for Toshiba. This is the highest market share that Compaq has attained in more than a year of StoreBoard's reporting, and it more than reverses the prior month's lead of 5 percent held by Toshiba.
"Toshiba may be a little unfocused right now," said Sargent, who noted that Toshiba remains the second-largest player in the dealer channel and still leads the overall notebook-computer market if mail-order sales are combined with retail and dealer sales. Still, Sargent said, "This should have been a great month for Toshiba."
And Compaq's rapid expansion into the mail-order market could mean more lost market share in Toshiba's future.
On the desktop side of the market, Compaq held onto first place, despite losing seven points of market share in September. Compaq accounted for 36.5 percent of unit sales in the retail channel, followed by Packard Bell with 25.2 percent, a 5 percent gain compared with August, according to CI's data.
Compaq's desktop unit sales grew 59 percent in September, compared with September 1996. Packard Bell saw an 11 percent rise in sales. Hewlett-Packard, with 13.9 percent of desktop unit sales, placing it in third place, saw a 71 percent jump in sales relative to the year-ago period.
Average system prices rose in September to $1,386 from $1,341 in
August, but were down more than $300 from $1,706 in September 1996, Sargent said. Prices moved higher in September due to a doubling in the share of sales coming from Pentium II-based PCs to 4.6 percent of total retail desktop-system sales. MMX Pentium systems also showed substantial growth in their share of unit sales to 66.1 percent, from 54.3 percent in August.
Average prices dropped for Compaq and Packard Bell in September relative to September 1996. Compaq saw its average system price at retail fall from $1,749 to $1,300 during the 12-month period, while Packard Bell's average system price fell from $1,460 to $1,193. Hewlett-Packard's average system price was almost unchanged, falling from $1,948 to $1,849.
Intelect ASW Marketing Services' retail sales audit also showed Compaq Computer continuing to lead the retail PC market in September with a 98 percent boost in sales compared with September 1996, according to data released last week.
The Port Washington, N.Y.-based research company said it was the third consecutive month Compaq captured the No. 1 ranking in retail system sales.
Intelect ASW audits sales from a combined total of 4,900 outlets, comprised of retailers and dealers.
During the same period, Hewlett-Packard solidified its hold on third
place in the retail market with a 71 percent gain in sales, according
to Intelect ASW.
Unit sales of computers in retail and computer superstores were up 23 percent in September, relative to the year-ago month. The increase compared with August 1997 was only 3 percent.
Compaq continued to rank as the top vendor in the retail market in September. Packard Bell held onto second place, despite an 8
percent decline in sales compared with September 1996. Toshiba, in fourth place, also suffered a decline, with its combined notebook and desktop computer sales dropping 23 percent relative to the prior-year period.
IBM's PC sales were unchanged, putting the company in fifth place. Acer followed, in sixth place, suffering a 48 percent decline in sales from September 1996.
Sales of Pentium II-based systems accounted for 4 percent of unit sales, and MMX-equipped Pentium systems represented the lion's
share of retail sales at 61 percent. Systems based on AMD's K6 microprocessors garnered an 8 percent share in September, down from 11 percent in August.
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