Netbooks rescue PC sales again

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 16 Apr 2009 at 09:07

Shipments of PCs slid 7.1% in the first quarter, with only heavy discounts and the popularity of netbooks keeping the results from being worse.

One bright spot for the global market was that, for the first time in recent memory, the PC market in the US fared better than the rest of the world with shipments falling just 3.1% percent, according to figures from IDC.

"The US was surprisingly strong, it outperformed our forecast," says IDC vice president Bob O'Donnell. "The fact that the US outperformed the worldwide totals is I think somewhat hopeful."

It estimated the total global PC market in 2008 was worth $243 billion, with IDC predicting more stable production over the coming quarters, with growth returning around the end of the year.

In separate research, Gartner sounded a somewhat more pessimistic tone. Research director George Shiffler says there is evidence of restocking of inventory in the distribution channel, but that this should not be interpreted as a recovery in demand.

What is clear is that consumers' move to netbooks is keeping PC shipments from slipping further. Netbooks shipments remain on track to double in 2009, says IDC.

HP holds top spot

Top PC maker HP managed to grow overall shipments by 2.9% and increase its industry-leading global market share to 20.5%. It wasn't such good news for Dell which continued to lose ground, with shipments diving 16.7% in the first quarter, hurt by weakness in the enterprise market.

Dell's market share slipped to 13.6%, good for second-place, while Acer gained ground and increased its share to 11.6% - maintaining its hold on the third place spot.