SAN FRANCISCO -- Consumer demand coupled with Asia's economic rebound led to double-digit growth in sales of personal computers in the first three months of the year.
Research groups Dataquest Inc. and International Data Corp., in reports released Monday, estimated that PC manufacturers shipped 30 million machines in the period ending March 31.San Jose, Calif.-based Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Group, said worldwide sales grew 15 percent from the comparable 1999 period, while Framingham, Mass.-based IDC calculated slightly higher percentage gains, pegging the year-to-year increase at 20 percent.
Of those totals, Dataquest said 11.1 million PCs were sold in the United States, a 14.5 percent from last year. IDC recorded U.S. sales of 11.6 million PCs, a 17 percent improvement.
Consumers eager for access to the Internet helped offset a corporate spending lull on PCs during the quarter, the firms said.
Bruce Stephen, an analyst with IDC, attributed the sluggish business market to a "Y2K hangover" caused by efforts to protect corporate computer systems from potential problems caused by the rollover from 1999 to 2000.
As Asia's economy continued its recovery from a deep recession, the region's consumers and businesses bought PCs at a robust clip. Sales in the Asia/Pacific market rose by 36 percent in the first quarter and Japan shipments climbed by 35 percent, IDC said.
Even though the PC industry remains on a roll, Dataquest analyst Charles Smulders warned that a sales slowdown looms if manufacturers don't develop a new generation of more powerful, stylish machines that persuade businesses and consumers to replace their existing systems.
"The market is getting pretty saturated," Smulders said. "About 60 percent of households have a PC now. The industry faces the challenge of finding a way to persuade existing users to replace their PCs every two to three years instead of every four to five years."
For now, manufacturers are having trouble getting the necessary parts to keep pace with current demand. The two biggest chip makers, Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices, both said they were caught off guard by the first-quarter demand. Intel, in particular, had trouble producing an adequate supply of microprocessors.
In the race for PC market share, Dell Computer and Compaq Computer continued their neck-and-neck duel. Dell leads the U.S. market with a roughly 17 percent market share with Compaq running at 16 percent, according to both Dataquest and IDC. Compaq remains the worldwide PC sales leader, with a 13 percent to 10 percent market share lead on Dell, the groups said.
Hewlett-Packard Co. and eMachines made the biggest strides in sales during the quarter, the reports showed. Boosted by the popularity of its Pavilion series, H-P now holds down the No. 3 spot after a first-quarter U.S. sales increase that ranged between 67 and 74 percent. Meanwhile, eMachines and its low-priced PCs broke into the No. 5 spot in the United States as sales shot up by at least 79 percent.
IBM Corp.'s decision to stop selling PCs through retailers dropped the company from the top five in U.S. market share. Dataquest estimated that IBM's U.S. shipments plunged by 42 percent, contributing to a 16 percent decline in the global market.