As per the latest findings of the market research firm IDC, global PC shipments in the second quarter 2010 went up 22.4% year over year, while another research firm, Gartner, calculated growth to be 20.7%. IDC pointed out that the surge in sales was primarily due to the large companies replacing their old computers coupled with the purchase of low-cost laptops.
IDC previously expected growth of 21.9%, which is 50 basis points below expectations, as the U.S. and Asian regions witnessed marginally lower PC shipments. This apart, the constrained PC spending during the recession has been replaced with the purchasing of new units presently. The PC shipment also surpassed Gartner’s previous expectation of 19.3%.
As per IDC, total PC shipment during the quarter was 81.5 million for the second quarter. Market leader Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) retained the first position worldwide, with an 18.1% market share, which declined by 1.6% as a result of lower international sales.
The second position was grabbed by Dell Inc. (DELL) as the company’s PC sales improved 19.1%, which surpassed Taiwanese computer maker Acer. On the other hand, both Dell and Acer lost marketshare. Dell benefited as a result of the raise in the demand from business houses, while Acer’s growth rate was not at par.
Apart from the three companies mentioned above, another computing major, Lenovo, reported PC sales growth of 47.3% year over year. Taiwanese company ASUSTek reported a staggering 83.6% growth in PC sales, while Toshiba’s PC sales climbed 26.2%. Apple Inc. (AAPL) could not grab a position among the top four, but in the U.S., Apple secured the fourth position in PC shipments.
It seems that while all the tech companies are reaping the benefits of improved macroeconomic fundamentals and increased IT spending across the globe, the maximum benefit has been tapped by Hewlett-Packard. Everything seems to be in favor for H-P. As per the recent report published by Gartner, HP has also grabbed the leading position in the server market during the first quarter of 2010.
During the same period, the server revenue of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) dipped 2.1% to $3.05 billion. Performances for both companies in the last quarter place H-P in the leadership position in the server segment, with a 31.5% market share, exceeding IBM’s market share of 28.4%.
Although we remain positive about H-P’s performance going forward given that the demand has been improving, we believe competition from other big technology companies, such as Cisco Systems (CSCO), Apple, Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Google Inc. (GOOG), as well as smaller Asian players continue to intensify in our opinion.
Read the full analyst report on “HPQ”
Read the full analyst report on “DELL”
Read the full analyst report on “AAPL”
Read the full analyst report on “IBM”
Read the full analyst report on “CSCO”
Read the full analyst report on “MSFT”
Read the full analyst report on “GOOG”
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