Worldwide PC sales rose by 10.9% to 168.8 million units in 2003, with the fourth quarter showing a 12% increase from the same period in 2002, totalling 48.4 million units, says Gartner.
The research firm`s preliminary figures for PC sales were released yesterday and show that strong consumer demand, robust notebook growth and falling prices were the three main driving forces behind the shipment growth.
"The professional market also showed positive growth, but it was still slow progress," says Charles Smulders, VP of Gartner`s Computing Platforms Worldwide group. "In the US market, enterprise buyers were still cautious on IT spending, but they did show gradual increases in purchases in the second half of the year."
Dell was the number one vendor in 2003 based on worldwide shipments (see Table 1). However, Hewlett-Packard was the top vendor in the fourth quarter of 2003. HP`s strong focus on the consumer market in the US, and its success in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region were important drivers in moving it there. Dell slipped into second place in the quarter.
[Table 1]
According to Gartner analysts, the fourth quarter is typically a weaker quarter for Dell because it has less presence in the worldwide consumer market.
Gartner analysts say 2003 will be remembered as the year when the PC industry and consumer electronics industry began to seriously compete with each other.
"The fourth quarter of 2003 was a turning point for several large PC vendors as they entered the computer electronics space, with a portfolio of products that bridged the PC and consumer electronics markets, such as Media Center PC and consumer electronic devices, such as LCD TVs," Smulders says.
The PC vendors` ambitions to move into the consumer electronics market became more apparent in the US than in other regions. Major vendors that have consumer lines include Dell, HP and Gateway. These vendors all introduced consumer electronic-related products in the fourth quarter of 2003.
With a focus on the consumer market, US PC shipments totalled 57.7 million in 2003, a 12.4% increase from 2002 (see Table 2). Dell and HP were the only top-tier vendors to show a shipment growth rate above the overall industry.
[Table 2]
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