Computer Daily NewsWhile competing analyst companies Gartner and IDC both indicate that growth in worldwide PC shipments has softened, they disagree about how much.According to Gartner’s latest survey, published yesterday, global PC shipments totalled 88.3 million units in the third quarter of 2010, a 7.6 percent increase from the third quarter of 2009 – but considerably lower than its forecast of 12.7 percent.
IDC, on the other hand, records global PC shipments up 11 percent in the third quarter, but again a slowdown from the previous period. The two companies have slightly different approaches in counting their numbers.
Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa says the major growth inhibitor in the third quarter of 2010 was softness in consumer PC demand in the US and Western Europe.
“The third quarter historically is a strong consumer quarter, led by (US) back-to-school sales,” she says. “Consumer mobile PC demand, driven by low-priced notebooks, including mini-notebooks, slowed after very strong growth the past two years.”
“Media tablet hype around devices such as the iPad has also affected consumer notebook growth by delaying some PC purchases, especially in the US consumer market. Media tablets don’t replace primary PCs, but they affect PC purchases in many ways.”
Hewlett-Packard remained top dog worldwide with 17.5 percent of the action, down from 18.9pc a year ago, according to Gartner. In the Asia-Pacific region, H-P experienced a more serious 20 percent decline in shipments.
Lenovo showed the strongest growth among the top five vendors worldwide. The professional PC market helped boost Lenovo’s growth in the US and EMEA regions.
Apple had another strong quarter. IDC figures show Apple’s US computer shipments increased 24 percent, making Apple the number three PC supplier in the US after H-P and Dell.
In Asia-Pacific, Gartner says PC shipments reached 29.7 million units in the third quarter of 2010, a 10.5 percent increase from Q3 2009.