Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO: The worldwide personal computer market grew more than 10 percent in the first quarter, fueled by strong growth in Europe and healthy shipments of notebook PCs, market research firms said on Friday.

Global PC shipments rose 10.9 percent to 46.1 million in the quarter, about 1 percent above forecast, IDC said. Rival Gartner said shipments rose 10.3 percent to 50.4 million.

The two firms report varying numbers because of different methodologies used in their surveys.

"First-quarter results demonstrate that demand remains healthy going into the new year," said IDC analyst Loren Loverde, despite weakness in quarterly results from International Business Machines Corp. that raised concerns about overall technology spending.

Stronger-than-expected growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa made up for a shortfall in the U.S. market, while on a worldwide basis, corporate demand was weaker than expected, said Gartner analyst Charles Smulders.

The weak dollar helped boost the PC market in Europe, IDC said.

"A weakening dollar helped create market momentum as strong international currencies, particularly the euro, made dollar-denominated purchases attractive," said IDC analyst Roger Kay.

However, like Smulders, Kay said the second-half outlook remains clouded as "macroeconomic indicators continue to be mostly negative."

U.S. stocks fell on Friday to 5-1/2 month lows as the disappointing results from IBM revived investor concerns about a slowdown in the U.S. economy and weaker economic growth.

Dell Inc. retained its position as the world's largest seller of personal computers in the first quarter, expanding its lead with global growth of more than 13 percent year over year in the period, Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC said.

Dell ended the quarter with 18.9 percent of the market, up from 18.5 percent a year earlier, according to IDC. Gartner pegged Dell's market share at 16.9 percent.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the No. 2 PC maker, had a solid quarter, with growth in line with the overall market growth rate, Gartner and IDC said. HP had 13.9 percent of the market in the first quarter, up from 13.8 percent a year earlier, Gartner said. According to IDC, HP ended the first quarter with a 15.4 percent market share.

IBM had a "relatively slow quarter" with growth of 2 percent year on year, trailing double-digit growth in prior quarters, IDC said. It remained the world's No. 3 PC maker, with about 5 percent of the global market.

Despite disappointing results for most vendors in the U.S. market, Gartner said Apple Computer Inc. moved into the fifth position in the U.S. market, ahead of Toshiba. Gartner reported that Apple's U.S. PC shipments rose 45.1 percent in the first quarter.

IDC pegged Apple's PC shipment growth at more than 43 percent, citing the ability of Apple to leverage the success of its iPod digital music player, the iTunes online music store, and the recently introduced Mac mini.