HPaQ UK PC sales plummet in Q3

Dell didn't do so well either

Michael Dell predicts high single-digit percentage growth in the PC market over the next four to five years, but his company didn't enjoy that kind of business in the UK during Q3.

Dell is the UK's top boy in the PC market, even though year-on-year sales fell 6.5 per cent for the third quarter, according to Gartner. However, with total market shipments of desktops and mobile PCs dropping 12.2 per cent during the period (compared with last year) it wasn't too bad a performance.

In Q2 it grew UK market share to 19 per cent from 16.6 per cent a year earlier, achieving year-on-year growth of 6.3 per cent.

The real loser in Q3 was Compaq. Year-on-year growth went down the toilet, dropping 24.4 per cent. It still held second place, but UK sales dropped from 248,580 in Q3 2000 to 187,904 in Q3 2001.

Combine this with Hewlett-Packard's dismal showing and things don't look so hot for HPaQ's PC business in the UK. HP's PC sales slumped from 106,431 in Q3 2000 to 87,744 in Q3 2001, a 17.6 per cent flop.

Unfortunately Gartner allows us to print the sales figures for the top five PC vendors only. As HP did not make the top five in Q2, 2001 we cannot say how badly it did in that period. However, the sales drop in Q2 was a good deal greater than in Q3.

Compaq had a good Q2 with year-on-year sales climbing 19.4 per cent.

Gartner's top five law also means we can't highlight IBM, Toshiba, and Time's sad Q3 sales stories.

Tiny Computers held the number five position by being the only player in the top to achieve any growth in Q3 - a majestic 0.6 per cent. NEC, thanks to its Packard Bell business through the Dixons Group stores, also managed a respectably flat Q3, with sales sliding just 0.8 per cent. ®

Here are the full Gartner figures for the UK PC market - desktop and mobile:

UK PC Shipment Estimates for Q3 2001
Company	Q3 2000 Shipments	Q3 2000 Market Share (%)	Q3 2001 Shipments	Q2 2001 Market Share (%)	Growth (%)
Dell	250,727	16.6%	234,370	17.7%	-6.5%
Compaq	248,580	16.5%	187,904	14.2%	-24.4%
NEC	93,983	6.2%	93,220	7.0%	-0.8%
Hewlett Packard	106,431	7.1%	87,744	6.6%	-17.6%
Tiny	76,884	5.1%	77,323	5.8%	0.6%
Others	732,531	48.6%	644,822	48.7%	-11.98%
Total Market	1,509,136	100%	1,325,383	100%	-12.2%

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