Despite of rather gloomy predictions early this year, global PC shipments rose 2.3% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2009, according to IDC's worldwide quarterly PC tracker. Portable PCs continue to account for the majority of volume and growth, with netbooks are still making a substantial contribution. What is noteworthy is that Acer, the largest supplier of netbooks, is now the world’s No. 2 PC maker with 1.3% market share lead over Dell.

"Despite the ongoing mix of gloom and caution on the economic front, the PC market continues to rebound quickly. The competitive landscape, the transition to portables, new and low-power designs, growth in retail and consumer segments, and the impact of falling prices are all reflected in the gains by HP and Acer, as well as overall market growth," said Loren Loverde, program director for IDC's tracker program.

The increase is an important continuation of recovery from year-on-year declines of 6.8% in the first quarter and 2.4% in the second quarter of this year. Seeing market growth ahead of the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 bodes very well for the fourth quarter and next year. All regions except Japan either met or surpassed expectations.

All top PC vendors, except Dell, recorded sales gains worldwide:

• HP leveraged its advantage in retail to benefit from the strong school season and grow 9.3% from last year. Growth was also aided by expansion of telco bundle offerings. The vendor performed above market in most regions but was especially strong in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ).
• Acer benefited from consumer demand for low-cost systems in the back-to-school season when its Aspire One netbooks were embraced by consumers. The vendor outperformed the market in virtually all regions.
• Lenovo capitalized on resurgent demand in APeJ, benefiting from government stimulus programs and successfully growing both its Commercial and Consumer shipments. The vendor also improved in other regions, with resulting market share gains worldwide. The company saw strong gains in Japan and EMEA while a slight decline was reported in the U.S.
• Toshiba performed above market in all regions except EMEA. It has continued to see solid results in the U.S. and Latin America, while seeing a sizable sequential jump in APeJ.
• Dell experienced a worldwide decline year over year, but saw solid growth in emerging markets, especially in APeJ, and a second consecutive quarter of growth brings encouraging signs that its retail development continues to pay off.

Tags: Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba