PC market up 15 percent thanks to netbooks

Research firm Gartner unveiled a report about the worldwide PC market in Q3 2008. The firm found shipments reached 80.6 million units last quarter, a 15 percent increase from the third quarter last year. PC sales remained strong thanks to the rise of the new netbook segment. Shipments in the US grew 4.6 percent and EMEA saw the largest growth with a 25.9 percent increase in shipments.

HP (18.4%), Dell (13.6%) and Acer (12.5%) are the three largest PC vendors in the world, followed by Lenovo (7.3%) and Toshiba (4.6%).

“The mini-notebook segment experienced strong growth in the global PC, led by robust growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region,” said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner's Client Computing Markets group. “In the North America market, the economic crunch created more interest in the sub $500 segment. Because the mini-notebook is still a new segment, it is too early to determine if the emerging segment created new market opportunities, or if it cannibalized lower priced systems.”

“At the same time, global PC market finally felt the impact from global economic downturn. The U.S. professional market experienced the biggest hit from the economic crunch. The U.S. home market saw definite softness in PC sales after a few quarters of strong growth,” Ms. Kitagawa said. “The Asia/Pacific PC market was impacted by a slowdown in China. PC growth in Latin America was slow relative to historical levels, but it was still in line with the forecast.”

HP maintained the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments in the third quarter of 2008. The company was impacted by a slower entry into the mini-notebook market, losing the top position in EMEA. Dell’s recent expansion efforts did not equate to increased market share in the third quarter. Dell primarily struggled with the professional market, especially in the EMEA and U.S. markets.

More info at Gartner.