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PC shipments gain in Q3, a good sign for holidays

Worldwide shipments of personal computers edged back up in the third quarter, said researchers, while Taiwan¡¦s Acer Inc (§»ùÖ) unseated Dell Inc as the world¡¦s ­second-biggest computer maker after Hewlett-Packard Co.

On Wednesday, analysts at research group IDC said PC shipments from July through last month rose 2.3 percent from the same period last year to 78.1 million units as consumers kept buying the low-cost laptops and tiny netbooks that have been the bright spot in the industry.

Such growth just ahead of next Thursday¡¦s launch of Microsoft Corp¡¦s new PC operating system, Windows 7, bodes well for the fourth quarter and next year, IDC said. The analysts expect to see more businesses replacing aging PCs in the middle of next year.

¡§Despite the ongoing mix of gloom and caution on the economic front, the PC market continues to rebound quickly,¡¨ Loren Loverde of IDC said in a statement.

Gartner said shipments rose one-half of 1 percent. Gartner and IDC numbers differ because the groups use slightly different methods for their calculations.

IDC said HP led the market with a 20.2 percent share in the quarter, followed by Acer with 14 percent and Dell with 12.7 percent.

¡§It¡¦s a pretty amazing ­transition in market leadership by Acer,¡¨ Loverde said. ¡§It¡¦s reflective of the changes in form factors and channels and pricing ¡X the way we¡¦ve shifted to lower cost portables, particularly in consumer and retail, which is where Dell was not as strong.¡¨

Dell has also been hard hit by a decline in corporate purchases, which many analysts expect to pick up as the US economy improves and Microsoft releases its new operating system Windows 7.

Gartner said Acer¡¦s market share has increased to 15.4 percent in the third quarter, compared with Dell¡¦s 12.8 percent. Acer¡¦s shipments surged 25.6 percent last quarter, the fastest growth among the top PC makers, buoyed by sales of low-cost netbooks, the researcher said.

In a statement, however, Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa ­cautioned that rising shipments and gains in market share weren¡¦t predictors of financial success, because the most popular products among consumers are inexpensive and less profitable for PC makers.

¡§Revenues and margin performance are key to surviving in a very competitive market,¡¨ she said.

China-based Lenovo Group Ltd (Áp·Q) and Japan¡¦s Toshiba Corp rounded out the top five, both IDC and Gartner said.

In the US, IDC said HP took back the No. 1 spot from Dell, though just barely. Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner said Dell remained at the top in the US by the same margin of half-a-percent of market share.

Acer, Apple Inc and Toshiba were the third, fourth and fifth-­biggest PC companies in terms of US shipments, both groups said.
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