Thursday, April 11, 2013

Dell's PC Business Sees Challenges, As PC Shipments See Record Drop

It's no secret that the personal computer market has been a problematic spot for Round Rock-based Dell. However, the latest market numbers from both IDC and Gartner illustrate how bad the market is: Garterner said worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter of 2013 dropped 11.2 percent, and IDC said the quarter's shipments dropped 13.9 percent. IDC said the drop is the worst in a decade. Both IDC and Gartner show that Dell, in particular, suffered, with a drop of 14.4 percent (IDC) or 15.5 percent (Gartner) in the quarter--with only HP delivering worse shipping numbers, with a drop of between 22.9 percent and 23.3 percent, depending on whose numbers you follow. Gartner blamed the drop on a migration of content consumption from PCs to tablets and smartphones.