Despite the volatile economy, the PC industry overall appears on the surface to be doing fine thanks to the influx of cheap, under-powered notebooks.
Overall, worldwide PC shipments rose to US$80.6 million units during the third quarter this year, a 15 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago, according to a new quarterly report issued on Tuesday by research firm Gartner. In the United States, however, the picture is not so rosy.
Perhaps because of consumers' economic worries, a lot of sub-US$500 computers sold in the third quarter. Whether a new worldwide netbook market is being created, or they are cannibalizing cheap laptops, is not quite clear yet, according to Gartner PC analyst Mika Kitagawa.
Either way, PC sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew five times faster than in the United States to reach 28.8 million units in the third quarter.
The two quickest to enter the netbook market, Asus and Acer, are being rewarded for their efforts: the two vendors experienced some of the best growth during the third quarter of this year. Acer is now the top vendor in that region, displacing perennial leader HP. Acer's concerted efforts to ship netbooks there were chiefly responsible for the change, said Gartner.
Almost a year into being combined with Gateway, Acer is also now firmly entrenched as the third-largest PC maker in the world. It shipped just over 10 million units, which is 47 percent more than a year ago. It is also good for 12.5 percent of the worldwide market.
Acer, which had been battling with Lenovo, is now nipping at Dell's heels: Dell is in second place with 13.6 percent of PCs sold in the third quarter, and HP continues to lead with 18.4 percent. Lenovo stayed in fourth place with 7.3 percent of the market, and Toshiba, which had some of the best growth at 25.8 percent during the quarter, remained in fifth place with 4.6 percent.
Asus, while not in the top five, had "robust" growth, which Kitagawa estimates is in the triple digits. The final numbers have not yet been tallied, since the report is just a preliminary one, she said.
But in the United States, PC sales grew at a dismal rate of 4.8 percent. That is not good for a quarter usually lifted by back-to-school sales of computers. And even though prices on mainstream laptops and desktops continued to drop, it was not enough to lure in as many consumers as retailers had hoped, Gartner's Kitagawa said.
In the United States, Dell continues to be the dominant supplier with 29.5 percent of PCs shipped, and HP is right behind at 25.7 percent. Apple (9.5 percent share) grew at six times the U.S. market, or almost 30 percent more units shipped than the previous quarter--and that is despite not refreshing its notebook lineup until Tuesday. Acer, at just under nine percent of the market, experienced 11.2 percent growth. Toshiba stayed in fifth place with a 5.6 percent share.
This article was first published as a blog on CNET News.com.
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