News

IDC Q3 Report Shows Stable Global PC Market

• By Scott Bekker
• 10/24/2000

Despite concerns of a worldwide slowing in overall PC demand, IDC believes that the 3Q numbers reflect a more stable worldwide market picture. “Concerns about the strength of the PC market appear to be more vendor and segment specific,” said Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s Worldwide PC Tracker program. “Our results cam in very close to expectations.”

In 3Q, the global market was once again led by a robust consumer market, high growth in the Asian markets, and solid demand for portable PCs. The mature U.S. market grew 9.4 percent year on year as slower demand for corporate desktop PCs dampened market expansion. During the quarter, other mature markets, including Europe and Canada, also grew at rates below the overall worldwide market average.

In the United States, Dell Computer Corp. held on as the top PC vendor, but Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., ranking 2 and 3, respectively, closed the gap. With a growth rate of 46.8 percent, HP showed the highest growth rate among the top five ranked vendors. Gateway Inc. and IBM Corp. rounded out the top five, and both saw a decrease in market share compared with 3Q 1999. While the U.S. market grew 9.4 percent, the top five vendors grew an average of 15.6 percent, consolidating their share.

On the worldwide stage, Compaq remained on top with 13.1 percent market share, followed by Dell with 11.5 percent. HP pulled ahead of IBM for the third spot with a strong 40.2 percent year-on-year growth. Fujitsu Siemens remained fifth with a 5 percent share. The top five worldwide vendors collectively grew 15.8 percent, slower than the total market’s growth of 18.3 percent. – Isaac Slepner