Compaq Computer Corp. lengthened its lead as the No. 1 computer maker, while IBM and Toshiba gained ground and Apple Computer sank in market share, according to a new report on PC shipments from Dataquest.
The San Jose research firm issued its latest market-share report Monday. It said the PC market grew 16.3 percent worldwide in the third quarter compared to last year at this time.U.S. computer sales grew 12.5 percent in quarter-over-quarter comparisons, but Dataquest said shipments of computers running Intel microprocessors grew 20 percent.
Compaq strengthened its hold on the No. 1 spot, with 10.3 percent of the world market and 14.4 percent of the U.S. market. Compaq's worldwide sales grew 19.2 percent.
IBM put in a strong showing at No. 2, with 8.6 percent of the world market and a 9.1 percent share of the domestic market. IBM's worldwide shipments grew 27.4 percent.
Apple hung onto third place with a 5.4 percent share of the world market and 7.3 percent of the U.S. market. But Apple's shipments fell by more than a quarter in year-over-year comparisons as the company's troubles sapped sales.
Dataquest analyst Kim Brown said he was pleased that Apple shipped more computers in the third quarter than it had in the second quarter. He said it was too early in Apple's attempted turnaround to expect growth in year-over-year figures.
Brown said the real surprise in Monday's figures was the phenomenal growth of Toshiba. The Japanese manufacturer placed fifth in world market share with 4.4 percent, shipping an astonishing 94.6 percent more units than last year at this time.
"They're in fifth place, and all they sell right now is notebooks," Brown said. He predicted that with Toshiba starting to ship desktop machines, as it began doing in September, the Japanese manufacturer will have a chance to gain even more ground.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)