HP delivers PC Q3 smackdown

Acer makes tasty gain, Dell ambles along

Hewlett-Packard remained leader of the pack in global PC sales for the third quarter while Dell continued to lag behind.

According to iSuppli, which tracks computer sale trends, total PC shipments for the quarter were said to be up to 68.1 million, a 13.8 per cent year-on-year jump and 11.1 per cent from the previous quarter.

It said that HP shipped 13.1 million PCs, up 32.7 per cent compared to the same period a year ago when the firm banged out 9.9 million units.

The computer giant's market share was bumped up to 19.2 per cent, with the firm notching up its fifth straight quarter at the top of the PC sales pile, ahead of struggling rival Dell.

In contrast, Dell saw "meager growth" of 1.5 per cent with global shipments of 9.9 million in Q3 of 2007, compared to 9.8 million units in the same period for 2006. It grabbed market share of 14.6 per cent.

Acer, which looks set to jump ahead of Lenovo to take third place following the purchase of Gateway, has continued to gain ground with shipments up by an eye-popping 68.8 per cent year-on-year. Its market share rose to 7.9 per cent, up from 5.4 per cent for the same period in 2006.

iSuppli said notebook sales continued to buoy up shipments in the PC market with year-on-year growth of 33.5 per cent, while desktop computers increased by 3.4 per cent to 39 million units for the quarter.

The figures reflect similar numbers reported by analyst firms IDC and Gartner last month. ®