According to a recently released Gartner’s quarterly market research, replacement PC purchases remained the key engine of growth for the industry in the Q2 2004, demonstrating solid year-over-year increase of more than 10%.

Replacements, Developing Countries Drive PC Market Growth

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 43 million units in the second quarter of 2004, a 13.3% percent increase over the same period last year, according to preliminary results by Gartner.

“The professional market is crucial to the second quarter’s overall results. While early software and storage segment results have shown some weakness relative to industry expectations, the professional PC market was on track,” said Charles Smulders, vice president of Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group.

In the United States, PC shipments totalled 14 million units in the second quarter of 2004, an 11.4% increase from the second quarter of 2003. Gartner analysts said the US PC industry’s growth was attributed to healthy sales in the professional market.

On a regional basis, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region experienced a year-on-year PC shipment increase of 15.5% in the second quarter. Gartner analysts said business demand for PCs appears to have been strong despite the increase in the dollar value against the Euro. Some significant government deals also drove the increase in overall demand in the region.

All countries in the Asia/Pacific region, with the exception of South Korea, are expected to show positive year-on-year growth performance this quarter. The PC market in Japan experienced a slight increase in shipments, however, the market performed below forecast expectations because of slower-than-expected sales in the home market.

Preliminary Latin American PC shipment results for the second quarter of 2004, show the region experienced a year-on-year shipment increase of more than 25%. The consumer segment continued to grow in the region as desktop prices, particularly for generic machines, continued to decline.

Dell Still No.1

On a vendor basis, Dell retained its top position in both the worldwide and US PC markets in the second quarter of 2004. Dell experienced double-digit growth across all regions. Due to the typical second-quarter performance, Dell’s corporate and public sector business grew relatively faster than the home market.

HP’s worldwide year-on-year growth was slightly above industry average, as it showed the strongest growth in Asia/Pacific, including Japan. An internal re-organization at HP during the quarter is likely to have had some impact on the company’s performance.

Other top computer makers also demonstrated growing sales of PCs, including desktops, notebooks and 32-bit servers.