BBC News Online: Business

Global PC sales continue to fall

The slowdown in sales is spreading from the US

Gartner's latest report confirms that demand is weakening, and says last month's terrorist attacks on the US have exacerbated the slowdown in an already weak market.

PC sales were earlier this year found to have fallen for the first time in 15 years, hit by slowing economic growth, particularly in the US, which accounts for 40% of the world market.

Global PC shipments in the July to September quarter came in at 30.7 million units, 11.6% lower than in the same period last year.

Dell keeps top slot

Worldwide sales for 2001 could come in 6% down on last year, Gartner analyst Charles Smulders said.

Among computer makers, US giant Dell has retained its position as market leader, after taking the top slot from Compaq earlier in the year.

Dell increased its share of global sales to 13.8%, up from 11% a year ago.

Compaq claimed 10.4% of global sales, down from 13.4% a year earlier.

IBM ranked third, despite seeing its market share decline to 6.6% from 7%.

Hewlett-Packard, which is plans to merge with Compaq, earned fourth place with 6.4% of global shipments.

Slowdown spreads

A worrying sign for the industry is that the impact of the US slowdown is spreading to Europe and Asia, Gartner said.

"The effects of the US economic downturn came heavily to bear on all economic regions" in the July to September period, Mr Smulders said.

Registering their first decline since 1986, PC purchases fell 1.9% between April and June 2001 to 30.4 million units.