2004 U.S. PC Sales Growth Strong

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 2/7/2005

New York — U.S. computer shipments nicked the double-digit growth mark in 2004 with Dell continuing to stretch its lead as the nation's No. 1 computer supplier.

International Data Corp.'s preliminary 2004 shipment report stated that the industry grew 10.5 percent on 58.3 million units shipped in 2004, with fellow research firm Gartner posting a slightly lower 8.3 percent increase on 62.3 million units shipped. The gap is due to differing methods of compiling the data.

Both companies had Dell's shipments growing about 18 percent last year, giving the vendor 31 percent of the market, IDC, or 27.7 percent, Gartner. Hewlett-Packard posted a healthy 7 percent jump on both firm's charts.

Charles Smulders, computing platforms VP for Gartner's worldwide group, based in Stamford, Conn., said there was some weakness in the U.S. market, but overall shipments were in line with projections.

IDC, based in Framingham, Mass., cited the same weak U.S. growth, particularly in the fourth quarter, but noted this was due to difficult year-to-year comparison with the fourth quarter 2003, which was very strong.

Dell Computer's CEO Michael Dell said at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that worldwide PC growth for this year is in the 10 percent range, and he expects his company to slightly outpace the industry.

“Operating margins have generally been steady to slightly improving. I think our margins will be healthy,” he added.

2004 U.S. PC Shipments
(IDC preliminary results, in thousands of units)

Rank	Vendor	2004 Shipments	Market Share	2003 Shipments	Market Share	Growth 2004/2003
1	Dell	19,296	33.1%	16,319	31.0%	18.2%
2	Hewlett-Packard	11,600	19.9%	10,842	20.6%	7.0%
3	Gateway	2,945	5.1%	1,987	3.8%	48.2%
4	IBM	2,932	5.0%	2,744	5.2%	6.8%
5	Apple	1,935	3.3%	1,673	3.2%	15.6%
	Others	19,548	33.6%	19,133	36.3%	2.2%
	All Vendors	58,255	100.0%	52,699	100.0%	10.5%
	Gateway (Merged)	3,603	6.2%	3,622	6.9%	-0.5%
Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the vendor/brand under which they are sold. PCs includes desktop, notebook, ultra-portable and x86 Servers. Data for all vendors are for calendar periods. Data for Gateway includes shipments for eMachines starting in Q2 2004, and only Gateway data for prior quarters. This reflects the legal status of the companies, which merged during the first quarter of 2004. IBM Client PC shipments will be tracked under the Lenovo name starting in Q2 2005, once the sale of IBM's PC division is legally completed. Source: Internation Data Corporation, Framingham, Mass. ©TWICE 2005

2004 U.S. PC Shipments
( Gartner Dataquest forecast, in thousands of units)

Rank	Vendor	2004 Shipments	Market Share	2003 Shipments	Market Share	Growth 2004/2003
1	Dell	18,878	30.3%	15,944	27.7%	18.4
2	Hewlett-Packard	11,453	18.4%	10,708	18.6%	7.0
3	Gateway	3,601	5.8%	3,622	6.3%	-0.6
4	IBM	2,907	4.7%	2,727	4.7%	6.6
5	Apple	1,965	3.2%	1,693	2.9%	16.1
	Others	23,473	37.7%	22,822	39.7%	2.9
	Total	62,279	100.0%	57,515	100.0%	8.3
Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86-32 servers. Gateway and eMachines are reported as one company. Source: Gartner Dataquest, Stamford, Conn. ©TWICE 2005