HP in First Place as PC Sales Continue to Fall
HP in First Place as PC Sales Continue to Fall by UCStrategies Staff
In the fourth quarter of last year, IDC reports that there was a fall of 6.4 percent in worldwide PC shipments. These results are even worse than what was expected in the research firm's previously forecasted decrease of 4.4 percent.
Slow PC sales remained in the last quarter of 2012 even with the release of Microsoft Windows 8. The decline in sales of PC units is the first in five years showing stark comparison to the last year, said the IDC report.
The increase in popularity and use of smartphones and tablets appears to be the main reason for the sluggish rate of PC sales. A decrease in commercial spending, according to IDC, resulted from questions regarding the use of touch screens on Windows PCs in comparison to tablets.
IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker's senior research analyst, Jay Chou, stated: “Although the third quarter was focused on the clearing of Windows 7 inventory, preliminary research indicates the clearance did not significantly boost the uptake of Windows 8 systems in Q4. Lost in the shuffle to promote a touch-centric PC, vendors have not forcefully stressed other features that promote a more secure, reliable and efficient user experience. As Windows 8 matures, and other corresponding variables such as Ultrabook pricing continue to drop, hopefully the PC market can see a reset in both messaging and demand in 2013.”
According to the research firm, the sales of PCs in the U.S. declined by 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter, and 7 percent for the whole of 2012.
The research director of IDC's U.S. Quarterly PC Tracker, David Daoud, stated: “Consumers expected all sorts of cool PCs with tablet and touch capabilities. Instead, they mostly saw traditional PCs that feature a new OS (Windows 8) optimized for touch and tablet with applications and hardware that are not yet able to fully utilize these capabilities.”
The best-selling PC vendor in the world is Hewlett-Packard, whose lead has diminished since Lenovo has gained ground. HP sold 15 million PCs in the quarter for 16.7 percent of the market share, and held 15.8 percent share in the same quarter of the previous year; units shipped fell by 0.6 percent. Lenovo, however, sold 1.4 million PCs in the quarter for 15.7 percent share, and in the same quarter of the previous year had 13.6 percent share.
Big declines in the number of PCs shipped during Q4 (20.8 percent) compared to the same quarter last year (28.2 percent) were seen in Dell and Acer. Dell held 10.6 percent market share worldwide, while Acer held 7.8 percent. In fifth place was Asus with 7.2 percent share.
HP did manage to strengthen its lead in the U.S. by selling 4.8 million PCs for 27 percent share, which is an increase from the same quarter last year where 4.3 million units were shipped and the company had a 23 percent share.
According to HP, the IDC results were a “real feather in our 2012 cap... The bottom line is that industry experts like what they're seeing from our engineering department when it comes to the desktops, notebooks, printers, displays and more.” (CY) Link