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Notebooks Outsell Desktops for First Time

HP, Dell, Acer, top rankings

December 26, 2008

Notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent in the third quarter of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007, reaching 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units.

"Momentum has been building in the notebook market for some time, so it's not a complete surprise that shipments have surpassed those of desktops," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli. "However, this marks a major event in the PC market because it marks the start of the age of the notebook. The notebook PC is no longer a tool only for the business market, or a computer for the well-off consumer; it's now a computer for everyman."

The notebook's ascension to PC supremacy came during a strong quarter for the overall market.

"While the third quarter will be remembered as the time when the scale of the global economic and credit crunch truly became apparent, the PC market managed to deliver strong unit shipment growth during the period," Wilkins said.

Worldwide PC unit shipments rose 15.4 percent on the third quarter of 2007, with 79 million units shipped. Overall third-quarter PC shipments exceeded iSuppli's prior expectations of 12 percent year-over-year growth for the third quarter.

There were no changes to the Top-5 PC OEM listings and rankings for the third quarter of 2008, according to iSuppli.

Hewlett-Packard Co. of the United States retained its No.-1 ranking position in the third quarter of 2008, with shipments of 14.9 million units, and a market share of 18.8 percent. Fellow U.S. PC maker Dell Inc. maintained its second-place ranking with shipments of slightly less than 11 million units, giving the company a market share of 13.9 percent. No. 3 was Acer, with a market share of 12.2 percent resulting from shipments of 9.7 million during the quarter — a standout performance.

Rounding out the Top 5 PC OEM rankings were Lenovo and Toshiba Corp., ranked fourth and fifth, with market shares of 7.5 and 4.6 percent, respectively.

"The big news from iSuppli's market share data for the third quarter was undoubtedly the performance of Taiwan's Acer Inc.," Wilkins said. "On a sequential basis, the company grew its unit shipment market share by 45 percent, and by 79 percent on a year-over-year basis."

"Acer shipped almost 3 million more notebooks in the third quarter than it did in the preceding quarter, with the majority of those 3 million being the company's netbook products," Wilkins said. "Clearly, the company's netbook strategy is paying dividends, with Acer now trailing Dell by less than 2 percentage points of market share for all PCs."

iSuppli said it was encouraged by overall third-quarter PC shipments, which exceeded our prior expectations of 12 percent year-over-year growth for the third quarter. Desktop PC shipment levels declined by 1.3 percent compared to the same period in 2007, while notebook shipments were up almost 40 percent.

Looking outside of the Top-5 OEMs, Apple lost almost half a point of market share on a sequential basis at 3.2 percent, placing it seventh overall in total PC shipments. ASUSTeK Computer Inc. reported a great performance with its notebook shipments, surpassing Lenovo to become the fifth-largest notebook PC OEM while retaining its position overall as the sixth-ranked PC OEM in terms of total PC shipments.

In view of the better-than-expected third-quarter PC shipments, iSuppli has slightly increased its full year 2008 unit growth forecast from 12.5 percent to 13.0 percent. Its revised 2009 outlook calls for PC unit growth of 4.3 percent.

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