Dell flattens Compaq in PC fight

The direct selling champion defeated arch rival Compaq, which only managed flat growth. Dell can now boast a 12.8 per cent market share compared with Compaq's 12.1 per cent.

Dell's client and online marketing manager for Dell UK and Ireland explained that the company has been edging closer and closer to the top spot. He said: "The efficiency of our model puts us in a better position to cope with the current economic environment."

The nature of Dell's supply chain has helped it pass on falling component prices to customers much more quickly than its competitors. Both Compaq and HP suffered at the hands of inventory overhang from the fourth quarter of last year, giving Dell further fuel to its fire.

But it's not all good news for Dell. Preliminary figures from Gartner Dataquest show US market growth rate shrank by 3.5 per cent and although the rest of the world is still buying PCs the rate of take up has slowed. Globally, the market grew just 3.5 per cent - the slowest since Gartner began compiling these statistics.

Dataquest's results are mirrored by data also out today from IDC. It found that those companies with greatest involvement in the US consumer desktop market faired the worst. Dell was able to use its heavier commercial mix to gain ground on rivals.

Compaq this afternoon said it was in a quiet period and unable to comment.