PC market sees sluggish 3Q growth

Personal computer shipments continued to grow in the third quarter but at a sluggish pace, intensifying concerns about the industry’s dimming prospects going into the all-important holiday shopping season. New numbers reported by market research firms IDC and Gartner are likely to dampen expectations for upcoming quarterly results from PC makers and their suppliers. Gartner reports that worldwide PC shipments were 91.8 million units in the quarter, a 3.2% increase over last year and lower than its earlier projection for 5.1%. IDC says PC shipments increased to 91.9 million, a 3.6% increase over last year, but also lower than the firm’s expectations for 4.5% growth. Gartner and IDC use slightly different measurements. PC sales have been in a prolonged funk as anemic demand and rival technologies such as tablets and smartphones have dragged down demand in the U.S. and Europe. Growth in Asian economies isn’t enough to offset sluggishness elsewhere. Hewlett-Packard retained its spot as the world’s No. 1 PC seller, but Lenovo Group, is based in China, overtook Dell and claimed the No. 2 spot for the first time, IDC and Gartner reported.