IDC: No Rebound For PC Market In 2Q

Globally, nearly 31.1 million PCs were shipped in second-quarter 2002, down from more than 31.2 million in second-quarter 2001, IDC said. Hewlett-Packard, now merged with Compaq Computer, held the No. 1 spot worldwide, with a 15.1 percent market share, followed by Dell (14.8 percent), IBM (6.3 percent), Fujitsu Siemens (3.8 percent) and NEC (3.2 percent).

In the U.S. market, PC shipments rose slightly to almost 11.3 million in the second quarter, from just under 11.1 million a year earlier, IDC reported. However, Dell led the U.S. market with a 26.8 percent share, followed by HP (17.7 percent), IBM (5.9 percent), Gateway (5.8 percent) and Apple (4.1 percent).

On a year-over-year basis, HP saw its PC shipments drop 16.2 percent worldwide and 13.2 percent in the United States during the quarter, the IDC report said, noting that HP had to grapple with the Compaq merger battle amid an already tough market. However, HP's chief rival, Dell, boosted its PC shipments 15.5 percent globally and 19.3 percent in the U.S. market during the quarter.

PC shipment growth had shown some signs of life in late 2001 and early 2002--fostering industry optimism for a recovery--but shipments waned shortly after the second quarter got under way, according to IDC analysts Loren Loverde and Roger Kay.

"The fundamental drivers of a recovery are still in place: increasing economic stability if not improvement, an aging installed base and continuing technology development," Loverde said in the report. "However, both consumers and business are still very cautious about investing. We still expect seasonal improvement in the second half, although the current results underscore the fragile state of the market."