The recession didn't affect PC shipments quite as much as IDC expected last quarter. According to the firm's latest report, worldwide shipments dropped by 7.1% instead of the projected 8.2% between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.
IDC looks particularly enthusiastic about the U.S. PC market, which "outperformed the global market and many emerging regions" as it saw shipments slide by "only" 3%. Can you guess why it did so well, relatively speaking? Yep, netbooks. One would think PC market revenue slid by more than 3% because of that, since netbooks don't bring in as much cash as full-sized laptops. IDC doesn't provide market revenue estimates, though.
The research firm nevertheless compiled some market share numbers. It says HP outshipped Dell in the United States, seeing shipments grow 12.2% year-over-year as Dell's shipments fell 16.2%. In the first quarter, HP commanded 27.6% of the U.S. market, while Dell held on to 26.3%, Acer had 10.5%, and Apple enjoyed 7.6%.
HP did pretty well globally, too, seeing shipments grow 2.9% overall and securing its number-one position. (The PC maker now has 20.5% of the global PC market, by IDC's count.) Acer also saw 6.8% growth and held on to the #3 spot, only trailing Dell by a couple of market share points (11.6% to 13.6%). IDC blames Dell's poor performance on a struggle to address "competition and the shift to low priced consumer systems."