PC Shipments Up. Vista Has No Impact Claim Researchers

Demand for PCs has grown during the last quarter according to research companies IDC and Gartner, however Vista is not performing and has contributed little to the growth.

Worldwide PC shipments grew about 12 percent during the second quarter of 2007, according to estimates from research firms IDC and Gartner, exceeding both firms’ expectations.

Gartner said that with 61.1 million units shipped globally in the second quarter, “the worldwide market continued to be driven by strong consumer PC growth.” The firm noted that mobile PC demand remained strong and that it considered Microsoft’s newly available Vista software to have had a “minimal” impact on consumer demand.

Hewlett-Packard maintained its position as the leading PC vendor worldwide. The company shipped more than 11 million units in the second quarter, accounting for just under 20 percent of worldwide market share.

Dell was No. 2 with a decline of about 5 percent compared with the second quarter of 2006. For the second quarter of 2007, the company shipped more than 9 million units worldwide, claiming about 15 percent market share.

Lenovo grew 22.2 percent compared to the same quarter last year and regained its No. 3 position after dropping to fourth place in the first quarter of ’07. Acer returned to No. 4, followed by Toshiba.

Dell who are very strong in Australia  was the top vendor in the U.S. market. Gartner noted that the company held onto its lead despite experiencing growth that was below the nation’s average in the second quarter; the company’s growth declined about 11 percent compared to the same period in the prior year.

“Dell had difficulties in its consumer business,” said Mikakao Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner’s client computing markets group. He noted that the company made its first major retail shipments to Wal-Mart stores during the quarter but that “volumes were not significant enough to influence its growth performance in the quarter.”

HP saw about 26 percent growth in the United States compared with the same period last year and it maintained its position as the No. 2 PC vendor in the region.