Increased PC shipments below expectations: Gartner

A 9.7 percent increase in worldwide PC shipments during the third quarter of 2004 is below forecast expectations, according to industry analyst Gartner.

Based on preliminary figures, the Gartner findings show an increase from the same period last year. However, slower sales in the US have had an impact on global PC shipments.

"US home notebook shipments were strong during the quarter, but desktop demand was much weaker, which brought down back to school shipments overall," said Charles Smulders, vice president of Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group.

PC shipments in the US did grow 5 percent in the quarter but this was below analyst predictions of 8 percent. In comparison Australia fared well with shipments increasing by 19 percent.

"The market is on a downward trend compared to the peak nearly a year ago as replacement cycles come to an end and with consumer demand beginning to waver," said Ranjit Atwal, analyst at Gartner's Computer Platforms group in London.

The major vendors managed to either maintain or slightly gain market share with Dell recording the most significant growth, extending its worldwide market share to 16.8 percent, up from 15.2 percent in the same period last year.