Dell Passes Compaq as Top PC Seller in U.S.
Worldwide personal computer sales grew by 21.7% in 1999, according to preliminary statistics released today by Dataquest, a market research firm based in San Jose.
Worldwide shipments of PCs surpassed the 100-million mark in 1999, growing to 113.5 million units last year from 93.3 million units in 1998.
U.S. shipments increased 21.6% to 43.8 million units in 1999, up from 36 million units in 1998.
Compaq Computer Corp. remained the best-selling computer brand worldwide with 13.2% of the market, but its shipments last year climbed only 17.6%, while Dell Computer Corp.’s unit sales jumped 51.1% worldwide in 1999 and ranked No. 2 worldwide in total shipments.
Dell also squeaked by Compaq to take the No. 1 spot in the U.S. market with a 16% market share for 1999, compared with Compaq’s 15.7%.
“Dell took the pole position in the U.S. market for the first time ever in the third quarter and maintained it in the fourth quarter as well,” said Charles Smulders, a principal analyst at Dataquest.
IBM finished in the third spot worldwide, with 7.9% of the PC market, while in the U.S. Gateway Inc. held the third position, with a 9.1% share.
Industry analysts were concerned that the Y2K bug might have dampened personal computer sales, but the impact was marginal on total growth, according to Smulders.
Prospects for growth in 2000 are somewhat modest.
“We would anticipate the growth rate in the U.S. will slow [in 2000], current estimates put [growth] at about four percentage points,” he said.
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Who’s Selling Computers
Worldwide computer shipments surpassed 100 million in 1999. Here is a look at the major suppliers in the United States and abroad:
U.S. PC Unit Shipment Estimates (in thousands of units)
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1998 1998 1999 1999 % growth ship- market ship- market in ship- Company -ments share shipments market ments Dell 4,592 12.7% 7,017 16.0% 52.8% Compaq 5,815 16.1 6,861 15.7 18.0 Gateway 3,022 8.4 3,985 9.1 31.9 Hewlett-Packard 2,703 7.5 3,825 8.7 41.5 IBM 2,890 8.0 3,168 7.2 9.6 Apple 1,651 4.6 1,932 4.4 17.0 Others 15,387 42.7 17,046 38.9 10.8 Total 36,060 100.0 43,833 100.0 21.6
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Worldwide PC Unit Shipment Estimates (in thousands of units)
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1998 1998 1999 1999 % growth ship- market market Company ments share shipments share Compaq 12,785 13.7% 15,035 13.2% 17.6% Dell 7,361 7.9 11,123 9.8 51.1 IBM 7,613 8.2 8,932 7.9 17.3 Hewlett-Packard 5,388 5.8 7,242 6.4 34.4 Packard Bell NEC + NEC 5,914 6.3 5,936 5.2 0.4 Gateway 3,561 3.8 4,638 4.1 30.2 Apple 3,070 3.3 3,821 3.4 24.5 Others 47,619 51.0 56,795 50.0 19.2 Total 93,310 100.0 113,521 100.0 21.7
in ship- ments Compaq Dell IBM Hewlett-Packard Packard Bell NEC + NEC Gateway Apple Others Total
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