PC shipments rise by a fifth as recession eases

Year-over-year PC shipments increased by about a fifth in the second quarter

The number of PCs being sold is rising, perhaps as a result of falling prices, according to the latest figures from Gartner.

The analyst firm said in a Market Share Alert that the number of shipped PCs rose to just under 83 million in the second quarter of 2010, an increase of about a fifth on the same period last year.

The results were pretty much in line with the analyst's predictions of a 19.3 per cent increase.

"The preliminary second-quarter results indicate ongoing improvement of the PC market, and marks the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth on a year-over-year basis," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

Kitagawa explained that consumer spending grew by 13 per cent, and average selling prices declined. Some segments declined in growth, however.

"Mini-notebook shipment growth slowed significantly in the second quarter of 2010. This exceeded growth rates of the overall mobile PC market, but slowed to the low 20 per cent range compared with more than 70 per cent in the last two quarters," she said.

"This slowdown indicates that mini-notebooks are entering a mature growth stage."

HP continued its reign at the top of the PC shipments table with a 17 per cent market share but, since the company opted out of the aggressive price strategies of its peers, its growth rate slowed down. As a result, HP underperformed in EMEA.

Acer was second with just under 11 per cent, and Dell third with just over 10 per cent. Dell sold well to enterprises, Gartner found, but struggled to reach consumers.

Apple featured as a big seller in the US, and took just under 10 per cent market share. However, the Mac vendor does not feature in Gartner's Worldwide or EMEA rankings as a key vendor.

Demand for Apple in the US is high, and Gartner is predicting that the firm will grow its share even further.

Mini notebooks, which Gartner thought would take a knock after the release of Apple's iPad, remained fairly buoyant, and accounted for a fifth of the total mobile PC market.

Ranjit Atwal, principal research analyst at Gartner, said that sales to enterprises had slowed down, but are due a resurgence as the economic upturn begins to take effect. However, he warned that this is unlikely to happen in the near future.

"While the first half of 2010 has been very strong and driven by the consumer PC market, the second half will increasingly be dependent on the business market, and the economic uncertainties and public austerity measures may shift demand into the end of 2010 and even 2011," he said.