Taiwan's ASUS entered the top 5 rankings for the first time. ASUS comes from the last four letters of Pegasus, the winged horse in Greek mythology.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 84.3 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 27.4 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2009, according to preliminary results from US IT research firm Gartner. HP (Hewlett-Packard) in lead with 18 per cent market share.

"The stronger-than-expected growth was led by a robust recovery in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) PC market, which grew 24.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2010," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner."All other regions recorded double-digit growth rates, although the US and Latin America were slightly lower than what we had expected."

"These first quarter results indicate that the professional PC market is gradually picking up, driven by PC replacements in mature markets," Kitagawa said. "With a relatively positive macroeconomic outlook, business demand was more forthcoming. Major PC replacement demand driven by Windows 7 will become more apparent in the second half of 2010 and the beginning of 2011."

HP continued to be the leader in worldwide PC shipments, but its growth was below the worldwide average in the first quarter of 2010 (see Table 1). HP faced continued pressure from its Asian rivals that are gaining share. However, HP's strength could be apparent as the professional market rebounds.

Taiwan's Acer had strong shipment growth across all regions. Acer's business model allows it to meet price points that other vendors find difficult to match. Dell achieved year-over- year growth above 20 per cent for the first time in two years. Dell's growth was attributed to strong international sales.

China's Lenovo's PC shipments increased 59.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2010. Lenovo's commitment to expand into the consumer segment seems to have brought positive results, although its high dependence on China's market remained unchanged. ASUS joined the worldwide top 5 ranking for the first time, sharing the position with Toshiba. ASUS had PC shipments increase 114.8 per cent in the first quarter. The company quickly increased market share with its mini-notebook launch in 2008, but it has also successfully expanded into the traditional mobile PC market.

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q10 (Thousands of Units)

In the US, PC shipments totaled 17.4 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 20.2 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2009. The US market has registered two consecutive quarters of double-digit shipment growth.

"Although the first quarter is not typically a strong quarter for the consumer market, growth in the consumer segment was strong. We are expecting about 30 per cent growth in the US consumer PC market in the first quarter of 2010. The positive economic outlook and affordable system prices drove US consumers to buy more PCs. These purchases either replaced aging PCs or became additions to buyers' households,"Kitagawa said."In the professional segment we are seeing gradual signs of improvement, and we are expecting about 10 per cent growth in the professional market in the first quarter."

HP maintained the top position in the US market, but its growth was below the market average (see Table 2). Dell retained the No. 2 position in the US market, but continued to face challenges in the consumer market. Toshiba's shipments grew 50 per cent in the US market, as it became more competitive with pricing and promotions. Toshiba also did well in the value segment of notebooks. Apple created major attention with its media tablet, the iPad, which launched in April. The hype around the iPad added positive sentiment to the company's PC shipments. Early estimates showed that Apple grew 34 per cent in the US market.

Table 2
Preliminary US PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q10 (Thousands of Units)

In the first quarter of 2010, PC shipments in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) totaled 27.1 million units, a 24.8 per cent increase from the first quarter last year. The first quarter volume was the biggest on record. The EMEA market was boosted by exceptional mobile consumer market demand, which continues to grow unabated. The professional market is starting to see some upside mainly coming from small businesses, rather than large businesses. However, the pipeline is positive with large tenders for major hardware refreshes coinciding with Windows 7 deployments.

In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 26.5 million units, a 36.9 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2009. PC shipments in China grew 45.4 per cent; this growth was led by consumer PC demand due to the Chinese New Year holidays, when promotions and students' winter holidays stimulated purchases, especially of mobile PCs.

The PC market in Latin America grew 35.4 per cent, with shipments reaching 7.2 million units in the first quarter of 2010. Brazil has a large volume of local shipments because of high tariffs imposed on imported PCs. Consequently, growth in Latin America largely depends on these vendors.

In Japan, PC shipments totaled 4.3 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 14.7 per cent increase from the same period last year. Two major growth drivers are the continuous demand in the education market and introductions of new products in the consumer market.