HP piles up PC sales lead over Dell
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard continued to pull ahead of DellÂ in global PC sales during the fourth quarter of 2006, according to an industry report released Tuesday. Dell was the only top-five vendor to ship fewer PCs in the fourth quarter of 2006 than in the same period of the previous year, reporting a decline of 8.6 percent to 9.6 million units, according to iSuppli. In contrast, the global PC market grew 6.3 percent to 66.7 million for the quarter. Dell is struggling to adjust to theÂ resignation of its CEO in January, an accounting investigation by stock regulators, a shareholder lawsuit, andÂ sinking profits. However, HP also hit turbulence in 2006, with aÂ corporate spying scandalÂ that forced the resignation of Chairman Patricia Dunn. Still, Dell had built up such a large lead in annual sales that it held onto a thin 0.3 percent lead over HP in market share for the full year of 2006. That lead won't last long if current trends continue, said Matthew Wilkins, iSuppli's principal analyst for computer platforms, in a statement. Both HP and Acer grew much faster than the market as a whole and could soon pass their rivals. In the fourth quarter, HP had the greatest market share with 17.4 percent, followed by Dell at 14.5 percent, Lenovo at 7.1 percent, Acer at 6.6 percent, and Toshiba at 3.7 percent. Those numbers placed the companies in the same rankings they held in the third quarter of 2006. But ranked by their sales growth compared to the fourth quarter of 2005, Acer had the best term with a 42.7 percent increase, leading Toshiba, which had 21.3 percent, HP at 21.1 percent, Lenovo with 8.2 percent, and Dell with its 8.6 percent loss. At that rate, HP will soon pass Dell for the No. 1 spot, and Acer will soon pass Lenovo for the No. 3 ranking, Wilkins said.
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TechWeb - Hewlett-Packard was tops in shipments and IBM in sales in the third quarter, says Gartner.
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Dell Inc.  said on  Thursday it is experimenting with new ways to sell computers, a  first step that analysts say is needed if Dell wants to better  compete with Hewlett-Packard Co.  and Apple Inc.  .
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Dell (DELL) will set out Thursday to conquer markets dominated by Apple (APPL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and others with products that include its first small digital music player, photo printer and plasma TV.
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By JORDAN ROBERTSON  SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard Co.'s first-quarter profit jumped 26 percent as the company benefited from higher sales of laptop computers, printers and printing supplies during a robust holiday spending season.
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Computer giant Dell Inc.'s server sales rose in the third quarter, overtaking Sun Microsystems Inc. for the No. 3 position, according to a Gartner Inc. research report released Wednesday.
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The world&#39;s top PC vendor, Hewlett-Packard, beat competitors Dell, Lenovo, and Apple to provide the best online customer support, according to a survey released on Tuesday by The Customer Respect Group.HP was also rated as providing the best online customer service among a sample of 18 technology companies surveyed, ahead of Intuit, Xerox, Microsoft, and Lexmark, according to the survey, which rated online support for the first quarter of 2008.Using metrics, including Web site usability, content accessibility, and responsiveness to queries, the survey independently measured a customer&#39;s interaction with a technology company via the Internet, the company said.Dell lagged in 12th place behind hardware vendors HP, Lenovo, Apple, and Gateway, according to the survey. Dell has a good community site linked from the home page, but the support pages are difficult to locate, said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group.&quot;I think the story with Dell is that they have excellent materials and content, but it is not always as usable by the more naive users,&quot; Golesworthy said. Dell needs to mature support to cater to new users without neglecting the self-service experts, Golesworthy said.Apple&#39;s product offerings are fairly simple compared to Dell&#39;s, and so is its online support, Golesworthy said. Apple provides no chat or e-mail support options and encourages users to contact Apple through stores and by telephone to resolve issues.Apple&#39;s message may be about being simple, but a major glitch could become a big problem as self-help provided by Apple is minimal, Golesworthy said. Apple has plenty of technical articles on its Web site, which could be hard to locate at critical times.While some issues linger, vendors are finding better use of technologies&#160;such as&#160;RSS, online chat, e-mail, forums, and self-support Web content to support novice and expert PC users, the survey said.Technical customers are generally well serviced on location, so companies are looking to provide more basic information to support novice PC users, Golesworthy said. The documentation on some Web sites is being aligned for novice users to first identify a problem, then download the relevant drivers and programs to solve problems.Companies are also adopting more interactive and real-time techniques to provide customer support, the survey said. Online chat is challenging e-mail as a support option, with more than 50 percent of companies surveyed including online chat, an improvement from 30 percent six months ago.Online chat provides quicker response, cuts down on customer support costs, and eliminates user concerns about speaking to support agents with foreign accents, Golesworthy said.Some Web sites had data-intensive home pages that took time to load, but it could become commonplace as companies try to provide better and more interactive support to users, the survey said.Two upcoming technologies -- remote support and intelligent monitoring -- could help improve customer support provided by vendors, Golesworthy said. With remote access, technicians will assume control of a machine from a remote location to fix a problem. Instead of wading through pages of content to diagnose an issue, intelligent monitoring will provide a clearer choice for users to diagnose and resolve issues.Sun was rated as having the simplest Web site, followed by Xerox, Microsoft, and Apple. Intuit was rated as being most responsive to customers&#39; problems, followed by Microsoft, Symantec, and HP.
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Server shipments and revenue increased in the second quarter as Sun Microsystems Inc. and Dell Inc. gained market share at the expense of Hewlett-Packard Co.
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U.S. computer company Hewlett-Packard said on Wednesday it was expanding a built-to-order system for personal computers and other high volume computer products, similar to rival Dell.
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Dell&#39;s retail strategy to distribute PCs is starting to show results, helping extend its lead over Hewlett-Packard as the largest U.S. PC vendor in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to figures from analyst firms Gartner and IDC.However,&#160;HP remained the world&#39;s largest PC dealer, topping Dell, Acer, and Lenovo, according to figures from both firms.Dell shipped 5.5 million units in the U.S., a 15.2 percent year-over-year increase and a 29.6 percent market share, according to IDC. HP, in second place, shipped 4.5 million units, a 9.8 percent year-over-year increase and a 24.3 percent market share. Acer, in third place, showed tremendous growth in the U.S., with shipments increasing 294.2 percent to 1.5 million units. Apple&#39;s shipments grew 30.9 percent to 1.06 million, a 5.7 percent market share. Toshiba was in fifth place, IDC said.Gartner reported that Dell shipped 5.35 million units, with a 31.4 percent market share during the fourth quarter, compared to the 29.3 percent market share it had last year. HP shipped 4.4 million units, with market share growing to 26.1 percent from 25.5 percent last year. Acer and Apple were in third and fourth places, respectively.Dell&#39;s switch from a direct sales model to&#160;selling PCs through retailers like Best Buy&#160;and&#160;Wal-Mart&#160;is paying off and has helped the company improve shipments, said David Daoud, an analyst with IDC. &quot;They&#39;re coming out of nowhere to everywhere,&quot; Daoud said.However, Dell is trying to catch up internationally with HP, which is investing more in distribution channels and understands business behavior in emerging markets better, Daoud said.According to IDC, HP shipped 14.7 million units worldwide, a 23.3 percent year-over-year growth and a 19 percent market share. Dell was in second place, shipping 11.3 million units with a 14.6 global market share, a 17.1 percent rise from the previous year. Acer saw a sharp rise, with shipments growing 60.3 percent year-over-year to 7.4 million. Lenovo came in fourth, shipping 5.8 million units, a 22.3 percent year-over-year increase. Toshiba was in fifth place.The&#160;acquisitions of Packard Bell and Gateway&#160;last year helped boost Acer&#39;s shipment volumes globally, though the companies have not yet fully contributed. &quot;Given the acquisitions are relatively recent, it will takes years or more to see tangible results,&quot; Daoud said.Acer&#39;s acquisitions have taken a bite out of Lenovo, which saw slower growth in the global market and is struggling to retain its core audience of business users, Daoud said. With the launch of the IdeaPad notebook, Lenovo is trying to expand to the mass consumer market, which has alienated its traditional business users. Lenovo needs to reassert its commitment to business customers, Daoud said.Lenovo also needs to acquire PC vendors if it wants to expand the way Acer did, although there are not many major PC vendors left for it to acquire, Daoud said.The surveys include shipments of desktops, notebooks, and ultraportable notebooks with up to 7-inch screens.
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November 24, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Technology giant HP  announced on Tuesday it led the competition in worldwide server shipments for the 10th consecutive quarter, according to third quarter 2004 figures released by IDC.
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Dell Inc. DELL.O, the world's  largest personal computer maker,  on Thursday posted a higher  quarterly profit, helped by market share gains and lower  component costs despite slowing demand for corporate PCs.
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Just five months after its &#36;19 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. gave Hewlett-Packard Co. the No. 1 ranking in worldwide personal computer shipments, a new batch of market numbers delivered some stomach-turning news to HP &amp;#151; rival Dell Inc. had just snatched the top spot right back.
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The latest Gartner figures show that both server shipments and revenue increased in Q2 as Hewlett-Packard and IBM lost market share to Sun and Dell.
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(InfoWorld) - PCs sales for India grew 19 percent over the same period in the previous year, mainly on strong buying from a number of market segments including e-governance projects and the outsourcing industry, a hardware vendor group said Wednesday. A total of 2.96 million PCs were sold in the six months ended September 30 last year, the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT), an association in Delhi of computer hardware vendors, said Wednesday. PC sales are forecast to be close to 6.5 million for the Indian fiscal year ending March 31, primarily because of the strong Indian economy, the group said. Notebook sales grew by 180 percent in the six months to September 30, while the growth in desktop sales was about 8 percent, according to MAIT data.Â IntelÂ has forecast that the Indian market is moving towards buying more notebooks than desktop computers because of the mobility they offer. A number of multinational and local brands have slashed prices on their entry-level notebooks to cash in on this new market opportunity. Desktop sales still outstrip notebook sales in India, with sales of notebooks accounting for about 15 percent of all PC sales, MAIT said. Sales of unbranded desktops grew at 27 percent to capture a 40 percent share of the desktop market, despite aggressive price cuts by multinational and local brands. Intel, through its Genuine Intel Dealer (GID) program, has given some legitimacy to this otherwise unorganized sector, consisting to a significant extent of out-of-garage assembly operations. Vendors of unbranded PCs, besides having a strong presence in small towns, also offer lower prices and personalized support. Intel has been assisting some of these vendors to also get into the assembly of notebooks. Multinational PC brands accounted for 37 percent of the desktop market, registering growth of 14 percent. The share of Indian brands fell from 31 percent to 23 percent, after a decline in sales of 20 percent. Business buyers accounted for 77 percent of desktop sales during the period, with home users accounting for the remaining 23 percent. Buyers of notebook computers for home use also increased because of their reduced prices, and accounted for one-third of notebook sales, MAIT said.
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Shares in Hewlett-Packard have risen by 8 per cent in after-hours trading after the US computer and printer manufacturer reported record revenues in every division and in every region.
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PC shipments in the second quarter grew faster than any three-month period since 1999, IDC said Monday, citing the continued pent-up demand for replacement systems as the driving force behind the sales surge.