Gartner Dataquest Says PC Market Experienced Slight Upturn in 2002, but Industry Still Shows No Signs of Strong Rebound
SAN JOSE, Calif., January 16, 2003 — The PC market returned to positive growth in 2002, as worldwide PC shipments totaled 132.4 million units, a 2.7 percent increase from 2001, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). In 2001, worldwide PC shipments declined 4 percent.
"In the second half of 2002, the worldwide PC market had two consecutive quarters of year-on-year PC shipment growth," said Charles Smulders, vice president of Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. "Despite this growth, we still believe PC market demand is still at the bottom of a growth cycle and has yet to show evidence of a significant upturn."
With the completion of the merger between Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, the new HP held off Dell for the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments in 2002 (see Table 1). Despite a 9.3 percent decline in 2002, HP maintained the No. 1 position with 16.2 percent market share. HP continues to reorganize, consolidate and refocus its combined PC entities and its go-to-market strategy. Despite worldwide year-on-year unit declines, HP exhibited a second consecutive quarter of sequential growth in the fourth quarter of 2002.
Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2002 (Thousands of Units)
Company
2002 Shipments
2002 Market Share (%)
2001 Shipments
2001 Market Share (%)
Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard
21,478.3
16.2
23,676.8
18.4
-9.3
Dell
20,111.7
15.2
17,004.4
13.2
18.3
IBM
7,927.7
6.0
8,231.6
6.4
-3.7
NEC
4,549.7
3.4
4,912.0
3.8
-7.4
Toshiba
4,237.3
3.2
3,653.8
2.8
16.0
Others
74,045.6
55.9
71,452.7
55.4
3.6
Total
132,350.3
100.0
128,931.2
100.0
2.7
Note: Data include deskbased PCs, mobile PCs and IA32 servers. HP and Compaq are reported as one company. If combining Fujitsu and Fujitsu Siemens, the combined shipments would be in fourth place in the worldwide PC market. Source: Gartner Dataquest (January 2003)
Dell experienced the strongest growth among the top-tier vendors worldwide and in the United States in 2002 (see Table 1 and Table 2). In 2002, Dell's worldwide PC shipments grew 18.3 percent, and it grew even more in the fourth quarter of 2002, as its shipments increased 24.5 percent.
"Dell's focus on improving its international operation performance continued, as it experienced strong growth across all regions," Smulders said. "Its most notable improvements were in Asia/Pacific, Japan and Latin America."
Table 2
Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2002 (Thousands of Units)
Company
2002 Shipments
2002 Market Share (%)
2001 Shipments
2001 Market Share (%)
Growth (%)
Dell
12,982.0
27.9
10,751.7
24.2
20.7
Hewlett-Packard
9,221.5
19.8
9,989.7
22.4
-7.7
Gateway
2,745.1
5.9
3,220.5
7.2
-14.8
IBM
2,542.3
5.5
2,485.4
5.6
2.3
Apple
1,708.0
3.7
1,682.7
3.8
1.5
Others
17,275.1
37.2
16,382.9
36.8
5.4
Total
46,474.1
100.0
44,512.7
100.0
4.4
Note: Data include desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and IA32 servers. HP and Compaq are reported as one company. Source: Gartner Dataquest (January 2003)
A key driver for the worldwide PC industry in 2002 was the home market, as home PC shipments outperformed the professional segment.
"The home PC market improved from a very difficult year in 2002," Smulders said. "This segment received a boost from home mobile PC shipments. The professional market showed no signs of a recovery during the year. Faced with a high degree of uncertainty, corporations more frequently chose to extend the life of PCs rather than upgrade."
Additional information is available in the Gartner Dataquest Perspective "Preliminary 4Q02 and 2002 PC Market Results," which examines how top-tier PC vendors performed in the fourth quarter and for the year.
These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner Dataquest's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe. To subscribe to this program, please call 408-468-8000. Additional research can be found on Gartner's Hardware and Systems Focus Area on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com/1_researchanalysis/focus/hwmkt_fa.html.
Gartner Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the global information technology industry.
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