PC shipments continue to slide

Demand in the PC market remains depressed, with shipments falling throughout the world.

In the last three months, worldwide PC shipments were 2.7 per cent lower than they were in the same period a year ago.

However, they were down 8.9 per cent on the preceding three months, according to the latest figures from analyst house IDC - although much of that can be explained by the pre-Christmas buying bubble.

In total, 31.4 million PCs were sold around the world in the first three months of the year, down from 32.2 million a year ago.

Sales were flat in the US, where both the recession and the subsequent recovery have struck earlier than the rest of the world.

In Europe, sales were down 1.5 per cent, with global PC vendors still meeting stiff competition from local players. IDC said it does not expect a rebound in corporate or consumer sales until the beginning of 2003.

In the meantime, small businesses are providing the only growth in the market. Karine Paoli, EMEA PC expertise centre manager for IDC, said: "The SME market is responding well, but we see no strong growth in corporate sales until next year.

"Given this situation, we expect to see further price erosion, despite the fact that component prices are rising."

As far as the vendors are concerned, Dell held on to its number one spot, again managing to buck the trend. It increased sales in both the US and worldwide.