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To: Return to Sender who wrote (920)	8/2/2001 10:11:39 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Respond to of 95456

W.European PC shipments take first tumble-report biz.yahoo.com LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Shipments of personal computers in Western Europe suffered a first-ever decline in the second quarter, but a collapse in the consumer market may mask a brighter outlook from business clients, a report said on Friday. Gartner Dataquest, a market research and advisory company, said Western European PC shipments fell four percent to 6.02 million units in the second quarter after consumers opted against buying new PCs amid fears of a global economic slowdown. PC shipments in the wider region of Europe, the Middle East and Africa crept 0.1 percent higher to 8.38 million units compared to the same quarter in 2000. But the comparative quarter last year was also weak, and PC vendors have said the worldwide computer industry was in turmoil amid fierce price wars and excess inventory and manufacturing capacity. Nevertheless, Brian Gammage, an analyst at Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform group, is cautiously optimisitic as large account customers continue to return to the market. ``This segment is showing steady growth, but the overall picture is distorted by a general weakness of computer hardware in retail,'' he said. ``The worsening economic outlook is clearly hitting consumer confidence.'' Shipments in the retail market fell by a hefty 15.4 percent. But the professional segment -- which accounts for 77 percent of the PC market -- grew 5.7 percent, with double-digit growth in large accounts offsetting more modest growth in the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) segment. Dell Computer Corp (NasdaqNM:DELL - news), which continued to turn up the pressure in the PC market with price cuts, saw the highest rate of shipment increase, up 15.1 percent, and continued to eat into rival COMPAQ Computer Corp's (NYSE:CPQ - news) market lead, Gartner said. Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:HWP - news) also saw double-digit growth of 12.9 percent, whilst International Business Machines Co (NYSE:IBM - news) saw shipments grow at a more modest 6.9 percent. Compaq saw shipment growth decline by six percent, while Fujitsu Siemens saw growth tumble 10.8 percent. Compaq saw its market share slip to 13.7 percent in the quarter, Dell's climbed to nine percent, Hewlett-Packard's rose to 7.4 percent, Fujitsu Siemens's slid to 7.3 percent and IBM's edged up to 6.6 percent against Q2, 2000, Gartner said. But Gammage warned that in a market where prices, margins and volumes were all declining, it was far from certain that the winners were those gaining market share. ``Despite the modest growth in the professional market, there is plenty here to worry PC vendors as the second quarter of 2000 was weak, so our growth comparisons are against a weak base,'' he said. ``Many of the leading international vendors have seen shipments decline, some by a significant degree, and only those who are executing against a clear strategy are seeing shipment levels increase.'' Germany and Britain, the two largest markets in the region, recorded falls of 11.9 percent and 7.3 percent respectively. But shipments in France, the third largest market, grew by 7.8 percent, propelled by a strong professional segment. Gartner said Russia continued to show the highest growth in the region, with PC shipments jumping by 38.3 percent against the same quarter in 2000. Following are figures for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. COMPANY SHIPMENTS MKT SHARE SHIPMENTS MKT SHARE GROWTH (Q2 2001) (Q2 2001) (Q2 2000) (Q2 2000) (PCT) Compaq 1,149 13.7 pct 1,221 14.6 pct -6.0 Dell 754 9.0 pct 655 7.8 pct +15.1 Hewlett-Packard 618 7.4 pct 547 6.5 pct +12.9 Fujitsu Siemens 609 7.3 pct 682 8.2 pct -10.8 IBM 552 6.6 pct 517 6.2 pct +6.9 Others 4,694 56.0 pct 4,745 56.7 pct 0.0 TOTAL MARKET 8,375 100.0 pct 8,368 100.0 pct 0.1 (source: Gartner Dataquest)

To: Return to Sender who wrote (920)	8/3/2001 9:08:10 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95456

Have been thinking about the Barrett and Groves turnaround comments. It suddenly occurred to me that Intel doesn't sell their chips directly to the public. They sell to board makers, who sell to box makers, who sell to the end user. With the expectation that PC sales will pick up for back to school season, it makes sense that boardmakers, boxmakers, and (especially) retailers would build inventories. Best Buy was crammed full of new PC's when I was there last week. The salesman told me they were moving, but slower than expected. In summary, things probably DO look fine for Intel and the CEO and CFO will be right IF (big if) the PC sales pick up as expected. If not then there will be a lot of inventory for someone to write off.