January 28, 1998 (BOSTON) -- Despite economic unrest in the Asia/Pacific region, the worldwide personal
computer market marked another healthy year, with 1997 shipments surpassing 82 million units, an
increase of nearly 16 percent over 1996, according to market research firm Dataquest Inc.
The PC industry continues to see the top-tier vendors grow at the expense of the rest of the market
(see table 1). The Top 4 vendors, Compaq Computer Corp., IBM Corp., Dell Computer Corp. and
Hewlett-Packard Co., all registered strong double-digit growth in unit shipments.
Number 5 vendor Packard Bell-NEC Corp. was the exception: it's shipment growth fell 8.3 percent. Other
PC vendors combined had pisitive growth of 8.4 percent.
"Each quarter of 1997 witnessed the continuous consolidation of market presence by an elite few PC
manufacturers," said Bill Schaub, vice president of Dataquest's Personal Computing and Peripherals
group. "During the course of 1997, the Top 4 manufacturers captured almost 70 percent of PC unit growth
worldwide, with Compaq seizing nearly 30 percent of that total expansion."
The worldwide PC market grew slightly less than Dataquest's previous forecast for 17 percent growth.
Dataquest analysts attribute this slightly slower growth to the problems in the Asia/Pacific region.
Despite the slowdown in the Asia/Pacific, three of the top PC vendors grew more than 40 percent in
1997.
Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1997
(Thousands of Units)
1997 1997 Market 1996 1996 Market Growth
Company Shipments Share (%) Shipments Share (%) (%)
Compaq 10,159 12.4 7,132 10.1 42.4
IBM 7,244 8.8 6,108 8.6 18.6
Dell 4,591 5.6 2,828 4.0 62.3
Hewlett-Packard 4,470 5.4 2,867 4.0 55.9
Packard Bell-NEC 3,910 4.8 4,262 6.0 -8.3
Others 51,695 63.0 47,672 67.3 8.4
Total 82,070 100.0 70,870 100.0 15.8
Note: Packard Bell-NEC 1996 calculated as Packard Bell + NEC (non-Japan) + ZDS.
Source: Dataquest (January 1998)
The battle for the U.S. PC market between Compaq and Dell did not let up in 1997. These two vendors
posted the strongest growth among the top vendors in the United States, with Compaq growing 54.4
percent and Dell growing 66.9 percent, respectively (see table 2).
"1997's phenomenal growth by the 'elite few' can't be explained by simple 'direct versus indirect'
business model distinctions," said Scott Miller, senior industry analyst for Dataquest's Computer
Systems and Peripherals program. "Today's winners in the PC industry are those manufacturers that
execute flawlessly and capitalize on past brand equity investments."
Table 2
Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1997
(Thousands of Units)
1997 1997 Market 1996 1996 Market Growth
Company Shipments Share (%) Shipments Share (%) (%)
Compaq 5,140 16.6 3,404 13.3 51.0
Dell 2,952 9.5 1,767 6.9 67.1
Packard Bell-NEC 2,846 9.2 2,976 11.6 -4.4
IBM 2,747 8.9 2,223 8.7 23.6
Gateway 2000 2,174 7.0 1,608 6.3 35.2
Others 15,141 48.8 13,672 53.3 10.7
Total 31,000 100.0 25,650 100.0 20.9
Source: Dataquest (January 1998)
More information is available at: http://www.dataquest.com.
(Lori Valigra, Asia BizTech Correspondent)
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