Dell retakes shipment lead as PC market gains

IDG News Service - Dell Inc. opened up a wider gap over rival Hewlett-Packard Co. as corporate buying lifted the worldwide PC industry in the first quarter of 2004, according to market share figures from IDC and Gartner Inc.
The market enjoyed a strong quarter as corporate customers made up for a seasonal downturn in consumer purchases, said Roger Kay, vice president of client computing at IDC in Framingham, Mass. IDC counted worldwide shipments of 41.2 million units in the first quarter, up 16.5% compared with the first quarter of last year.
Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner put the worldwide shipment figure at 45.3 million units, a 13.4% increase from last year's first quarter.
Gartner's results for total shipments numbers are generally larger because it counts a higher percentage of white-box systems than IDC does, said Charles Smulders, vice president of Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. White boxes are PCs assembled and sold without a brand name, mostly by local distributors.
"This is indicative of a general economic recovery. We think it will be sustainable for at least a year," Kay said.
Dell usually benefits when the buying mix favors the corporate customer, and the first quarter was no exception, Kay said. The Round Rock, Texas, company regained the market share lead from HP with 18.6% of the worldwide market, he said.
HP has a stronger presence among consumers and tends to benefit during periods of heavy consumer purchases, such as the fourth-quarter holiday shopping season. The Palo Alto, Calif., company slipped out of the leading position it held in the fourth quarter, finishing three points behind Dell with 15.6% of the market in the first quarter, according to IDC's numbers.
Gartner's numbers were slightly different, but Dell was still in front with 16.5% of the market. HP's share was 14%, as the company was also hurt by inventory problems in the channel, which forced HP to ship fewer units in the first quarter, Smulders said. The situation was back to normal by the end of the quarter, he said.
This is the first time since HP purchased Compaq that either company has had that large a lead over its competitor, Kay said. Dell simply grew faster than HP compared with last year's first quarter, posting a 28% gain in shipments over HP's 15.8% improvement, he said.
IBM was third in worldwide shipments, with 5.5% of the market. Strong PC shipment growth in Europe helped Fujitsu Siemens Computers (Holding) BV and Acer Inc. to hold on to fourth and fifth place, with 4.6% and 3.3% of