Worldwide PC shipments in the third quarter of 2004 increased 9.7 percent from the same period last year, slightly below previous forecast expectations, according to Gartner, Inc.
Gartner analysts said global shipments were impacted by slower sales in the U.S. market. PC shipments in the U.S. grew 5 percent in the third quarter, however analysts had expected shipments to increase more than 8 percent in the quarter. Other regions performed in line with expectations.
“U.S. home notebook shipments were strong during the quarter, but desktop demand was much weaker, which brought down back to school shipments overall,” said Charles Smulders, vice president of Gartner’s Computing Platforms Worldwide group.
On a vendor basis, Dell extended it unit share lead both worldwide and in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2004 (see Tables 1 and 2). Dell performed particularly well in Europe, as its shipments increased 36.7 percent compared to the same period last year.
Table 1Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q04(Thousands of Units) 3Q04 3Q04 3Q03 3Q03 3Q03-Company Shipments Market Shipments Market 3Q04 Share Share Growth (%) (%) (%)---------------------------------------------------------------------Dell 7,862 16.8 6,505 15.2 20.9Hewlett-Packard 7,045 15.0 6,435 15.0 9.5IBM 2,614 5.6 2,242 5.2 16.6Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens 1,700 3.6 1,552 3.6 9.6Toshiba 1,579 3.4 1,342 3.1 17.6Others 26,119 55.7 24,690 57.7 5.8Total 46,919 100.0 42,767 100.0 9.7Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86-32 servers.Gateway and eMachines are reported as one company, as are Fujitsu andFujitsu Siemens.Source: Gartner Dataquest (October 2004)
Hewlett-Packard’s growth was in line with the industry average, allowing it to maintain its market share compared to a year ago. “Regionally HP is coming under pressure in the U.S. retail market as rivals compete more aggressively for shelf space,” Mr. Smulders said.
In the United States, PC shipments totaled 16.2 million units in the third quarter of 2004, a 5 percent increase from the third quarter of 2003 (see Table 2). Gartner analysts said notebook sales were strong, but desktop demand was much weaker.
Table 2Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q04(Thousands of Units)Company 3Q04 3Q04 3Q03 3Q03 3Q03- Shipments Market Shipments Market 3Q04 Share Share Growth (%) (%) (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------Dell 4,919 30.4 4,297 27.9 14.5Hewlett-Packard 3,090 19.1 3,042 19.7 1.6Gateway 832 5.1 941 6.1 -11.6IBM 797 4.9 706 4.6 13.0Toshiba 561 3.5 468 3.0 19.9Others 6,006 37.1 5,976 38.7 0.5Total 16,205 100.0 15,430 100.0 5.0Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86-32 servers.Gateway and eMachines are reported as one company.Source: Gartner Dataquest (October 2004)
On a regional basis, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region performed in line with expectations, as shipments were up 12.6 percent compared to a year ago. Mobile PC growth continues to drive the market, but the strongest growth in demand remains at the entry level price points, which reinforces pressure on margins.
In the Asia/Pacific region, India and Australia showed some of the strongest shipment increases with growth rates of 30 and 19 percent, respectively. Shipments in China grew 11 percent, however a major concern going forward is the impact of government control measures to prevent overheating of the Chinese economy.
PC shipments in Latin America grew 29 percent in the third quarter. The strong shipment increase is attributed to PC replacement demand, lower interest rates, flexible PC vendor purchasing programs, broadband deployment and better system specification/price point positioning.
These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner’s PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program.
