PC Shipments Decline 3.2 Percent in First Quarter, IDC Says
Global personal-computer shipments unexpectedly fell 3.2 percent in the first quarter as businesses and consumers held off on purchasing new machines and shifted focus to tablet computers, market-research firm IDC said.
The researcher had projected that worldwide shipments would grow 1.5 percent from the year-earlier period. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) remained the industry’s top seller, accounting for 18.9 percent of the global market, IDC said in a statement today. Dell Inc. (DELL) was second with 12.8 percent, and Acer Inc. (2353) was third with 11.2 percent.
“Slower-than-expected commercial growth in the first quarter failed to offset the ongoing challenges in the consumer market,” said Bob O’Donnell, a program vice president at Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC, in the statement. “While it’s tempting to blame the decline completely on the growth of media tablets, we believe other factors, including extended PC lifetimes and the lack of compelling new PC experiences, played equally significant roles.”
Higher fuel and commodity prices, as well as disruptions caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March, may also have curbed sales, IDC said.
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.6 million in the first quarter. In the U.S., shipments dropped 10.7 percent from a year earlier, to 16.1 million.
Separately, Gartner Inc. (IT) said in an e-mailed statement that worldwide first-quarter PC shipments fell 1.1 percent to 84.3 million units, the first year-over-year drop in six quarters. Gartner, based in Stamford, Connecticut, had forecast an increase of 3 percent. U.S. shipments declined 6.1 percent, the research firm said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
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