This article is more than 1 year old

Dell overtakes Compaq (in US)

World PC sales up 23 per cent in 1999

For the first time, Dell outsold Compaq in the US during 1999, according to the latest data from market researchers Dataquest and IDC. Dataquest's numbers put Dell in first place, with a market share of 16 per cent, up from the 12.7 per cent it took in 1998.

Compaq was just below, with 15.7 per cent, down from 16.1 per cent. Look beyond the US market, however, and Compaq retained its global market leadership. It held 13.2 per cent of the market, compared to Dell's 9.8 per cent, according to Dataquest.

IBM took 7.9 per cent of the global market, down from 8.2 per cent. Hewlett-Packard took fourth place with 6.4 per cent (in 1998 its share was 5.8 per cent). NEC and its subsidiary, Packard Bell, together took 5.2 per cent, down from 6.3 per cent.

Rounding off the significant players list are Gateway and Apple, with 4.1 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively. In 1998, Gateway's share was 3.8 per cent, Apple's 3.3 per cent. In the US, Gateway took third place (9.1 per cent, up from 8.4 per cent), and Apple sixth (4.4 per cent, down from 4.6 per cent). HP came in at number four with 8.7 per cent (1998: 7.5 per cent) and IBM was fifth with 7.2 per cent, down from 1998's share of eight per cent.

Overall, worldwide PC unit shipments were up 23.3 per cent, according to IDC, which tallies well with PC Data's report on the US retail, online and mail order channels. Neither Dataquest nor IDC noted any especial effect of Y2K on PC shipments - with businesses cutting back on the acquisition of new PCs to pay for Y2K work - as many observers had anticipated. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like