The PC market is continuing its decline as Gartner today reported shipments in Western Europe fell over 11 per cent from last year, as Dell lost ground in the continent.
PC shipments totaled 14.8 million units in the third quarter of 2011, resulting in an 11.4 per cent decline from the same period last year.
According to Gartner, the mobile PC market was hit hard with a 12.6 per cent decline because of the 40 per cent decrease in mini notebook shipments. Desktop PCs also declined almost nine per cent.
“The inventory build-up that slowed growth in the last four quarters was mostly cleared during the third quarter of 2011; however, the PC industry continued to perform below normal seasonality,” said Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner.
“The results in the third quarter of 2011 make unpleasant reading for the PC industry, as the third quarter is traditionally a strong consumer quarter, driven by back-to-school sales.”
Dell dropped a place in the rankings, down to fourth behind a resurgent Asus. Dell recently lost its global number two position snatched by Lenovo.
Acer didn't fare too well either, as it saw market share drop from 24.5 per cent to 15.2 per cent.
Apple, meanwhile, has seen its market share increase from 5.7 per cent to 7.6 per cent.
This article originally appeared at itpro.co.uk
