European PC sales grew by 23.4 per cent in the third quarter, but revenue only increased by 13 per cent, Dataquest reported yesterday as buyers made a beeline for low-cost machines. "It was a record quarter in terms of consumer market growth," said Dataquest analyst Philip Williams. "That's what was driving the market." In terms of vendors, Dataquest's numbers showed Compaq stay in the lead throughout the quarter with an above average increase in sales of 33.4 per cent. It ended the period with a marketshare of 17.4 per cent. Dell and IBM were joint second, both on 8.1 per cent. However, Dell saw a massive increase in sales, leaping ahead some 86 per cent; IBM's sales grew 31 per cent. Siemens and HP came in fourth and fifth, respectively, with 6.3 and 6.2 per cent of the market. Thanks to the iMac, Apple's sales grew 25 per cent, an increase experienced solely in the quarter's final month. So the company ended up with a 2.8 per cent marketshare, not enough to put it in the top ten. France was the leading territory -- sales there increased 34.6 per cent, compared to 28.3 per cent in the UK and 22.1 per cent in Germany, though in terms of unit shipments these countries appear in reverse order. ® Click for more stories Click for story index