PC popularity begins at home for Big Blue

A recent survey has shown IBM is ahead of its rivals in the battle forhome users' hearts and minds

Big Blue was the most widely adopted brand in the UK home PC market between April and September last year, according to a survey from research company Inteco.

Twenty per cent of people surveyed said that they had considered buying an IBM PC and eight per cent had actually bought IBM kit.

Compaq did not fare so well. Six months ago it was supplying about nine per cent of all home PCs, this figure has now fallen to four per cent.

Olivetti, Gateway 2000 and Tiny Computers also had four per cent of the market.

Pete Day, senior consultant at Inteco, said: 'When we ask recent buyers the main reasons for their choice of brand, lowest price and value for money always come top.'

One of the survey's more interesting findings was the number of people choosing an assembled PC. Seven per cent of home PCs bought between April and September were put together either by the buyer or by someone they know.

The report also found that 50 per cent of people said that the advice of colleagues and friends was a key factor in making buying decisions.

Research carried out by Computer Intelligence into the commercial PC market has found that demand is slowing in the finance industry, but has highlighted opportunities for dealers in other areas.

One sector, transport/communications/utilities, contains many of the recently privatised public sector bodies where IT investment is increasing.

This sector accounted for 5.3 per cent of sales, with an average of 45 PCs an order.