The worldwide PC market remained depressed in the fourth quarter of 2001, although holiday buying produced better-than-expected results, Framingham, MA-based IDC reported today.
Worldwide PC shipments declined by 6.7% year on year in the fourth quarter, but grew 16.9% from November to December to 34.2 million, IDC reported. The results were an improvement from the third quarter, when shipments fell 13.4% year on year.
“The healthy sequential growth provides a better indicator of the market’s performance, as it is only slightly behind the average fourth-quarter sequential growth rate from 1995 through 2000 of 19.8%,” IDC said.
“Hard times persist in the PC market, but vendors are working diligently to stimulate growth and the outlook has started to improve in the United States and Europe,” said Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. “We don’t expect a rapid turnaround, but the seeds of recovery are being sown. Depending on the economic environment, growth in the PC market may pick up more rapidly toward the end of the year.”
Shipments in the United States continued to decline year on year, falling 10.1%, but they still beat expectations. However, sequential growth reached 6.1%, largely fueled by home buying. “U.S. consumers finally pulled out some of the stops in the fourth quarter,” said Roger Kay, director of client computing at IDC. “After four quarters of subdued buying, consumers in the United States ended the year with a burst of activity, particularly in retail.” The buying surge depleted inventory and PC makers found themselves competing for some components that had been in great supply, IDC said.
Dell continued as the leading PC marker, with a 27.5% market share, followed by Compaq with 15.1% and Hewlett Packard, with 12.6%, Gateway at 8.8% and IBM at 6%.
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