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, Framingham, Mass., 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, Stamford, Conn., posting a slightly lower 8.3 percent increase on 62.3 million units shipped. The gaps are 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, Gartners’ VP computing platforms, worldwide group, said there was some weakness in the U.S. market, but overall shipments were in line with projections.
IDC 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.
IDC (January 2005)
Top 5 Vendors,U.S.PC Shipments, Full Year 2004 (Preliminary) (Thousands of units)
- 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.
- PCs do not include handhelds. Data for all vendors are reported 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.
Gartner Dataquest (January 2005)
PreliminaryU.S.PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2004 (Thousands of Units)
Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86-32 servers. Gateway and eMachines are reported as one company.
&C”100M100Y20K”>n
