UPDATE 1-HP expands PC lead, Lenovo No. 2 for 1st time
Oct 12 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co’s personal
computer shipments grew 5.3 percent in the third quarter, while
China’s Lenovo overtook Dell to become the
world’s No. 2 PC maker for the first time, according to data
from two influential research firms.HP — which is scrambling to decide whether to sell, keep
or spin off its PC division by the end of October — now
commands a 17.7 percent share of an ailing global market, up
marginally from 17.3 percent a year ago, tech research house
Gartner said.Rival firm IDC put HP’s market share at 18.1 percent. IDC
also ranked HP, Lenopvo and Dell Nos. 1, 2 and 3.Wall Street analysts had speculated a premature
announcement about the potential spinoff of HP’s largest
division would drive customers away.Lenovo, aided by a laptop-sales tie-up with Japan’s NEC and aggressive marketing, expanded its market share to
13.5 percent from 11.1 percent, eclipsing Dell’s 11.6 pecent.PC sales are sputtering as consumers turn increasingly to
mobile devices from smartphones to tablets like Apple Inc’s iPad, while faltering economies pressure corporate
spending on technology hardware.But IDC foresaw a bounceback in 2012 as HP and other PC
makers begin to crank out smaller “ultra-mobile” computers.”For the moment, PCs have taken a backseat to a range of
other devices competing for shrinking consumer and business
budgets,” said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC.”While growth is expected to stay in mid-single digits in
the fourth quarter, we should see faster growth in 2012 and
beyond.”U.S. PC shipments edged up just 1.1 percent to 17.8 million
units in the third quarter, according to Gartner. While anemic,
that marked the first time shipments had grown in three
straight quarters. HP notably expanded its shipments by 15.1
percent in its home market, the firm said.”Despite the potential spinoff of its PC business, HP
executives’ efforts to give the appearance of ‘business as
usual’ seemed to work,” Gartner wrote in its statement.Emerging markets — such as Lenovo’s backyard, China —
remain however a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy
outlook.”The PC industry has been performing below normal
seasonality,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at
Gartner. “As expected, back-to-school PC sales were
disappointing in mature markets, confirming that the consumer
PC market continues to be weak. The popularity of non-PC
devices, including media tablets, such as the iPad and
smartphones, took consumers’ spending away from PCs.”As the PC market faced a slowdown, vendor consolidation
has become a more apparent trend in the industry. Lenovo’s
recent merger with NEC, and its acquisition of Medion, as well
as HP’s announcement that it may spin off or sell its PC
business, underlined this trend during the quarter.”
