Amstrad pips Compaq to second place at UK PC post

IBM and Compaq may be winning the war for corporate domination, but Amstrad is the second most common desktop PC, installed in more UK companies than Compaq. IBM dominates the PC server and desktop market and Dell has the strongest brand loyalty.

These figures, from a recent survey by market research firm Banner, show a maturing market. IBM, unsurprisingly, wins overall, with 18 per cent penetration of 304,729 companies with desktop PCs installed. Amstrad comes in at a surprising second place with 17 per cent, beating Compaq at 13 per cent.

Compaq makes up a lot of ground in bigger firms, which tend to be more brand-motivated. In companies with over 500 employees, Compaq has 58 per cent market penetration, and in the server market it is the outright winner, appearing in 48 per cent of companies with 50 to 200 employees. IBM came in second at 32 per cent.

Overall, 70 per cent of organisations with Compaq installed have both Compaq servers and desktop PCs.

In firms which use portables, Toshiba is the clear winner at 30 per cent, with Compaq at 19 per cent and IBM at 11 per cent.