Dell hell allows Acer to close gap in Q2

Race for the prize: Dell has seen its market share advantage over Acer shrink by more than five points

As the PC market began to recover in 2009's second quarter, Acer forged ahead while rival Dell endured a torrid three months, research has claimed.

Figures from analyst iSuppli found global PC shipments in Q2 were down 4.3 per cent year on year to 67.2 million. But a one per cent spike from this year's opening quarter appears to offer cause for optimism, following two sequential heavy declines.

Matthew Wilkins, iSuppli's principal analyst of compute platforms research, claimed the market could expect to enjoy further quarter-on-quarter growth for the remainder of the year. However, he added that the anticipated growth did not change iSuppli's forecast of a four per cent annual contraction for the entire year.

"We predict continued sequential growth in the third and fourth quarters, driven by the slow improvement in the worldwide economy, along with the arrival of technology drivers, such as Windows 7," he said.

Wilkins claimed the media exposure given to PCs by the launch of Microsoft's latest operating system would give the market a shot in the arm.

“The advertising blitz will get more people thinking about PC and this can only be a plus for the market," he added.

After three years at the top, HP showed no signs of relinquishing its status as the world's leading PC manufacturer. The vendor saw shipments rise 2.1 per cent year on year to 13.4 million, giving it a fifth of the total market.

Second-placed Dell saw shipments decline of 19.5 per cent to nine million, which represented a 13.4 per cent slice of the market. Acer made significant headway in third spot, with shipments spiking 23.3 per cent to 8.2 million, giving it 12.2 per cent market share. This means the gap between Acer and Dell has narrowed by more than five points in the past 12 months.

Lenovo took fourth spot with shipments up 1.3 per cent to 5.6 million, representing 8.4 per cent of the total market. Toshiba rounded out the top five.

The Japanese manufacturer saw shipments jump four per cent to 3.3 million as it claimed a 4.9 per cent slice of the market. PC shipments from all other vendors dropped 9.4 per cent annually to 27.6 million, representing 41 per cent of the market.

Wilkins claimed Acer and HP had benefited from solid notebook sales, while Dell had been hit by reduced corporate demand.

"Acer’s rise is due to another strong performance from its notebook PC business, clearly capitalising on the demand for mobile computing,” he said. “Meanwhile, Dell continues to suffer because of the weakness in the corporate market, despite showing improvements in its consumer business.

“HP is not only maintaining its leadership position but is also gaining market share due to its robust notebook PC business, which has outgrown the overall notebook segment for the past two quarters.”