Strong demand for PCs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa helped the global PC market grow by more than 10% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year.
This is according to research firms Gartner and the International Data Corporation (IDC).
Gartner research indicates that worldwide PC shipments rose by 10.3% to 50.4 million, while IDC says shipments were up 10.9% to 46.1 million.
The groups publish diverse figures because of different research methodologies.
IDC says continued growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and in portable PCs were the main drivers.
"First quarter results demonstrate that demand remains healthy going into the new year," says Loren Loverde, director of IDC`s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Although the market is expected to slow later this year, demand for portable, system replacements and growth in emerging geographies continue to drive expansion."
Roger Kay, vice-president of Client Computing at IDC, says that outside the US, a weaker dollar helped create market momentum as strong international currencies made dollar-denominated purchases attractive.
Gartner says growth in other regions offset weaker than expected growth in the US PC market.
"The shortfall in the US market was made up for by stronger than expected growth in the EMEA region," says Charles Smulders, vice-president of Gartner`s Computing Platforms Worldwide Group. "On a worldwide basis, we judge corporate demand to have been weaker than expected."
According to Gartner, Dell`s worldwide growth rate fell below 20% for the first time in 10 quarters, mainly because of the US market, although Dell`s 13.7% growth rate remained higher than the worldwide average, which meant it extended its lead in the worldwide rankings.
Gartner puts Dell`s market share for the quarter at 16.9%, followed by HP with 13.9% and IBM at 4.6%.
IDC lists the top three players in the same order, but puts Dell`s market share at 18.9%, HP`s at 15.4% and IBM`s at 5.1%.
"Despite US shipment results beating forecast slightly, the second half remains clouded, as macroeconomic indicators continue to be mostly negative," says IDC`s Kay.
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