Compaq still top of the PC pops

Worldwide PC sales increased 27 per cent for the second quarter, but at the expense of smaller vendors. Global PC shipments rose to 25.6 million compared to the same period last year, IDC reported. This was the biggest growth for several quarters, beating IDC initial forecasts of 21 per cent growth, according to today's Wall Street Journal. John Brown, IDC analyst, said the figures were surprising as the second quarter was traditionally the slowest part of the year. "The majority of what we're seeing is that the consumer market is out of control." He attributed this chaos to cheaper machines and the Web, adding: "We could be seeing a very good year". Reports from IDC, and also from Gartner Group, suggested that the biggest fish in the pond were benefiting at the expense of the tiddlers. All top five vendors in the US increased their market share, according to Dataquest. The same applied to worldwide sales, except for Japan’s NEC, said IDC. Compaq managed to cling onto the number one spot in the worldwide market. The vendor saw worldwide market share gain 0.6 per cent to 14.6 per cent. Shipments jumped 32 per cent against last year, according to IDC. But in the US market, Compaq and Dell held virtually equal market share. Dell's global shipments jumped over 50 per cent. Apple saw market share rise to 3.6 per cent from 3.2 per cent last year. ®