New figures released by Gartner and IDC on comptuer sales during the third quarter of 2007 disagree on some details, but overall paint the same picture: Hewlett Packard continues to occupy the number one spot in the worldwide market, but Dell is staging a sales recovery after several quarters of decline, and media darling Apple is managing to sell plenty of Macs, and has taken over the number three spot in U.S. computer sales.
According to market research firm Gartner, Hewlett-Packard sold almost 12.9 million PCs worldwide during the third quarter of 2007, giving it the number one sales spot for the quarter with 18.8 percent of the market. However, in the United States, both Gartner and IDC have Dell back in the number one sales slot, selling 4.8 million (Gartner) or 5.0 million (IDC) PC units in the U.S., to corner either 29.1 percent or 28 percent of the U.S. market. The numbers represent a shot in the arm for Dell, which in recent quarters has been steadily losing market share in both worldwide and domestic markets.
The research firms also disagree on the number three slot for worldwide sales, with Gartener fiveing the slot to Taiwan’s Acer with 5.5 million units sold, while IDC says Lenovo came in third place with 5.5 million units sold. Both companies put Toshiba in the number five position.
In the U.S., both Gartner and IDC mark Apple as the number three PC maker during the third quarter, selling either 1.3 million (Gartner) or 1.1 million (IDC) Macs, respectively, giving the Mac somewhere between a 5.7 ad 6.2 percent shareof the overall U.S. PC market. Both research firms have Toshiba and Gateway taking the fourth and fifth positions in U.S. sales. Figures from both research firms show a strong year-on-year growth for Apple, possible buoyed by a “halo effect” from the company’s popular consumer electronics products (the iPod and, now the iPhone), but also perhaps buoyed in the U.S. market by back-to-school promotions.
