DELL Dell Inc. (MM)

Recent data published by market research firms Gartner and IDC suggest that the personal computer market grew slower than expected in the second quarter, given the growing popularity of tablet computers.

Moreover, lack of consumer demand in the U.S. and Europe also affected sales to a considerable extent.

Though the two market research firms used different methodologies to track the growth, both concluded that PC shipments improved in the second quarter but were still below expectations.

Gartner revealed that 85.2 million PCs were shipped, a gain of 2.3% from the prior quarter but below its 6.7% projection level. IDC, on the other hand, reported PC shipments of 84.4 million, a 2.6% gain, below its projection of 2.9 %.

IDC said that overall shipments rose 2.6% in the quarter, but was slightly lower than their most recent projection of 2.9% growth. PC shipments in the U.S were also down 4.2%.

As per the report published by IDC, the growth in the first half of 2011 was impacted to a considerable extent by the economic worries and competition from smartphones, tablets and other new technologies. Gartner, however, said that the PC market is adapting to the new pressures.

According to IDC, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) remained the No. 1 vendor with 18.1% market share followed by Dell (DELL) with 12.9%, while Lenovo overtook Acer for the #3 position with 12.2%. At #5 was Asus, which overtook Toshiba.

Lenovo posted the biggest gain among the top vendors, as it witnessed year-over-year shipment growth of 23%. H-P posted 3% growth, while Dell grew 2.8%. Meanwhile, Acer saw shipments fall off 10.1%.

IDC is of the opinion that PC makers continue to leverage their strength in China, although they were able to cumulate some share in the U.S., particularly in the consumer segment.

The report published by Gartner, further suggests that Lenovo is the fastest growing player in the global PC market, growing 22.5% versus the year-ago quarter, while Acer’s shipments shrank 20.4%.

In the U.S. market, Apple (AAPL) surpassed Acer, and is now ranked third with 10.7% market share having grown 8.5%. Acer’s U.S. sales were down 22.6% from a year ago.

IDC said the United States market was weak in general, with shipments declining 4.2%. The biggest reason was a drop in netbook shipments, which sold strongly before the advent of tablets. However, strong upside in PC shipments to Asia, Latin America and Japan offset these declines.

As far as the United States is concerned, Hewlett-Packard led with 4.5 million computers shipped, down 1.2%. Dell followed with 3.8 million, down 9.8%. Apple rose from fifth to the third position, with 1.8 million, up 8.5%, based on strong sales of its Mac and MacBook computers. It also overtook Acer and Toshiba.

 
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