PC demand
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The year 2003 recorded the fastest annual growth rate in PC shipments in three years.
Strong demand for PCs in the fourth quarter of 2003 offered fresh evidence of a recovery in the IT market.
According to analysts at Gartner, worldwide shipments totalled 48.4 million units in the fourth quarter, a 12% increase on the
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"Strong consumer demand, robust notebook growth and falling prices were the three key driving forces for shipment growth in 2003," says Charles Smulders, vice president of Gartner's computing platforms unit. New consumer products, mainly in the US, also boosted demand. "2003 will be remembered as the year when the PC industry and consumer electronics industry began to seriously compete with each other," he said.
Of the suppliers, Dell was the year's overall market leader based on worldwide shipments. But Dell was overtaken by Hewlett-Packard in the fourth quarter. IBM, traditionally stronger in the corporate sector, grew shipments by 9% but its share was virtually unchanged at 5.1%.
