PC Support Journal

Gartner says global PC shipments rose 3.2% in the third quarter to 91.8 million units, which is a lot given the deplorable world economy but the number doesn't meet the researcher's projection of 5.1%, suggesting that Gartner was overly exuberant. It probably won't come as news to anybody that EMEA, particularly Western Europe at 26.6 million units, was a weak sister. Its shaken consumer confidence infected even netbooks. Lenovo got the upset it was angling for and displaced Dell as the world's second-biggest PC vendor. Gartner figures it has 13.5% market share, up from 11.1% year-over-year passing Dell's 11.6%, down from 12.2% on a shipment decline of 1.4%. Globally that puts Lenovo right behind HP and its 17.7%, up from 17.3%. Lenovo now means to put the squeeze on HP, which still holds the premier place. It seems to be threatening a price war, claiming more eff... (more)

PCs Weak, HP Bleeds Share

Between unimaginative products, competition from tablets and smartphones, the flood-created squeeze on hard drives and high prices, PC shipments dropped somewhere between 0.2% and 1.4% in the fourth quarter compared to 4Q10 according to IDC and Gartner. IDC is the more optimistic one. And remember Q4 is usually strong because of the holidays. HP was the author of its own peculiar problems. Although still the sector's leader it shipped 14.7 million boxes in Q4, 16% fewer units than the year before because of doubts over the fate of its PC unit. The brunt of the component shortages... (more)

Lenovo Earnings Up 88%

Lenovo, which passed Dell to become the second-largest PC vendor in the world by shipments and has designs on HP's first place, saw its earnings soar 88% in the September quarter on the back of acquisitions and sales to emerging markets like its native China. It realized a better-than-expected $143.9 million on revenues up 35% to $7.79 billion from $5.76 billion. It means to expand via acquisitions if it can find them and said "Uncertainties over global economic recovery, the renewed debt crisis in Europe, and tablet PC cannibalization of entry-level consumer PCs remain." It's ... (more)

Disk Drive Crisis Worsens

The horrific flooding in Thailand, where more than a dozen disk drive plants are underwater and a reported 500 people are dead, may cause PC shipments to drop by something less than 10% this quarter down from a 5.1% growth forecast, IDC said Thursday, followed by what could be a 20% drop in Q1 if not sooner. DigiTimes thinks there's only four-six weeks worth of inventory around and reports suggest hoarding has started. HP, Lenovo, Dell and Microsoft are all expected to be hurt, even though larger manufacturers and high-margin enterprise servers and storage will get priority tre... (more)

IDC and Gartner Trim PC Expectations

IDC has joined Gartner in clipping its projections for global PC growth this year. It figures the number of widgets shipped will only be up 2.8%, down from a previous forecast of 4.2%, citing tablet cannibalization, cautious spending by SMBs and consumers and saturated mature markets coupled with the lack of sexy new features and the uncertainty HP's proposed spin-off of its PC business has inflicted on the market. IDC also cut its 2012 growth guidance from 10.2% to 9.3%. It still thinks 2013-2015 is good for growth of 11% a year because of replacements and rising penetration i... (more)