Hewlett-Packard tops global PC market

Meanwhile second place Dell posted lowest year-on-year growth rate of all the top five vendors

Direct vendor Dell’s dominance of the global PC market is slipping after Hewlett-Packard (HP) took poll position for the first time in nearly three years, according to new research from Gartner.

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 51.9 million units in the third quarter of 2006, with HP taking a 16.3 per cent share of the market, compared with Dell’s 16.1 per cent. The last time HP topped the market was in Q4 2003.

HP recorded 15.4 per cent of year-on-year growth, compared with Dell’s 3.6 per cent, which was the lowest growth rate of all the top five vendors.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest’s Client Computing Markets Group, said: “HP continues to take advantage of the faster growth segments. Its share trajectory reflects its improvements in operational execution and changes in marketing. Dell felt the effects of the weak sales in the US market.”

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