Strong demand for portable models helped drive worldwide computer shipments up 17 percent in the fourth quarter, the technology research firm IDC reported.
A report on Wednesday by another firm, Gartner Inc, put quarterly growth at a more modest 16 percent. Gartner's measurement methods differ slightly from IDC's.
Dell Inc, the world's largest PC maker, posted a slightly higher growth rate than the industry as a whole and expanded its lead over its rivals, IDC reported.
Global shipments totaled 61 million in the October-December period, up 17.1 percent from last year's fourth quarter, according to IDC.
For the full year, shipments totaled 208.6 million, up 16.4 percent from 2004, IDC said.
Gartner's report counted 62.8 million computers shipped in the fourth quarter, compared with 54.2 million in the comparable quarter a year earlier. Gartner put the full-year growth rate at 15.3 percent.
IDC said the increasing popularity of laptop computers offset general weakness in consumer spending in the fourth quarter amid rising interest rates and higher fuel prices.
Gartner said last year was the first year in which computer shipments in the US fell below shipments in a combined market encompassing Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Those markets, which technology research firms lump together in comparisons with other global regions, accounted for 72.6 million shipments, compared with 67.2 million in the US.
IDC said Dell increased its share of industry computer shipments to 17.2 percent in the fourth quarter from 16.8 percent a year ago, with an overall growth rate of more than 20 percent and more than 50 percent in portable PCs.
Hewlett-Packard Co posted 15.8 percent growth and saw its market share dip to 15.7 percent from 15.8 percent a year ago, IDC said.
China's Lenovo Group Ltd
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained