Analyst company IDC has released preliminary figures indicating 673,500 units were shipped in the second quarter of 2003. This represents a 10.3 percent increase from the first quarter of this year.
The majority of the improvement occurred in the notebook market, which grew 18.1 percent over first quarter and 41.5 percent over the second quarter of 2002. Shipments of desktop computers also increased, growing by 7.4 percent over the first quarter of this year and 15.7 percent over the second quarter of 2002.
Hewlett-Packard was still the market leader, nabbing 19.3 percent of the total PC market. Dell ate the next largest slice -- 11.4 percent -- and IBM came in at third with 7.5 percent market share. Acer took the number four spot with 6.4 percent of the total PC market.
IDC expects the second half of 2003 to remain strong in terms of PC sales. Notebook prices are expected to decline further fuelling demand in that segment. The strength of the Australian dollar is also helping shift units, which have become better value.
