PC industry continues to grow globally and at home despite economy

Third quarter numbers are beginning to come in as Wall Street searches its crystal ball for signs on where the economy is headed. Now, Gartner has released its latest numbers for the PC industry for Q3 2008 and despite economic woes, the industry is growing.

Growth in the industry is being driven by the netbook segment, specifically in mini-notebooks (like the Dell Mini 9) that sell in the under $500 range according to Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa. The US market, overall, was soft in Q3 (as one would expect), but worldwide PC shipments still grew 4.6 percent in the quarter.

Globally HP maintained the top spot in units shipped for Q3 2008. The top PC maker shipped 14.784 million computers for the quarter grabbing 18.4 percent of the global PC market. Compared to Q3 2007 numbers, that is a slight gain in market share from 18.3 percent and a gain of roughly 2 million in units shipped.

Dell was in second place globally with 10.995 million units shipped and a market share of 13.6 percent, both numbers grew from Q3 2007. Acer grabbed the third spot globally with 10.038 million shipped PCs giving it a 12.5 percent market share. Bringing up fourth and fifth places in the top five are Lenovo and Toshiba respectively. Lenovo shipped 5.893 million PCs with 7.3 percent of the market and Toshiba shipped 3.678 million units with a 4.6 percent market share.

The market in the U.S. looked different for the top five compared to the global market. Dell grabbed the top spot in U.S. PC shipments from the global top dog HP. Dell shipped 5.122 million PCs in Q3, for a total of 29.5 percent of the market. HP shipped 4.452 million PCs (25.7 percent), and while Apple doesn't yet earn a mention on the global list, it's now the third-largest manufacturer in the US. The Cupertino firm held its rank with 1.644 million units shipped, and a total of 9.5 percent of the US market.The days when Apple fans were hoping to hold two, or even three percent of the market are far away indeed; Apple is on the verge of reclaiming more than ten percent of the pie. (Shhh. Don't tell Sculley).

Apple is by far the biggest gainer in the U.S. sales charts with a 29.4 percent growth compared to the same quarter in 2007. Rounding out the top five are Acer at 1.542 million units shipped and Toshiba at 979,000 units shipped. All of the top five U.S. PC shippers posted growth for the quarter compared to last year.