Is HP top PC maker in US?

Global shipments of personal computers fell 7.1 percent in the first three months of the year, but the decline was smaller than expected and research group IDC on Wednesday said the industry could turn around by the end of the year.

A second research group, Gartner Inc, calculated first-quarter PC shipments fell 6.5 percent from the same period in 2008. The two groups use different methods to track PC shipments.

IDC had predicted worldwide shipments would fall 8.2 percent in the quarter. The US market was also much stronger than IDC forecast, with PC shipments falling 3.1 percent from a year ago, compared with an expected 8.9 percent drop. By Gartner's count, US shipments dipped less than one percent.

"Based on the U..being the center of the financial crisis, and looking at trends of last recession, we were concerned that demand and growth would continue to decline," said Loren Loverde, an IDC program director.

Instead, the US PC market, which took a beating in the fourth quarter, benefited from intense price competition among PC makers as well as the growing demand for netbooks, or small, cheap, low-powered laptops.

Both groups reported that Hewlett-Packard Co used the trend to overtake Dell Inc as the top PC maker in the US HP's lower prices and more established brand among shoppers helped push its market share to 27.6 percent. Dell's share fell to 26.3 percent as it struggled to reorganize its consumer business, according to IDC.

Taiwan's Acer Inc, the No 3 PC maker in the US and a force in the netbook market, snagged 10.5 percent of the market. Apple Inc's share edged up to 7.6 percent, and Japan-based Toshiba Corp, the fifth-largest, took 6.6 percent.

Worldwide, HP's market share crept up to 20.5 percent while Dell's slipped a few points to 13.6 percent, IDC reported. HP's shipments rose 2.9 percent as Dell's plunged 16.7 percent.

No 3 Acer captured 11.6 percent of PC shipments worldwide. China's Lenovo Group's share was flat at 7 percent, and Toshiba's share edged up to 5.4 percent.

Chipmaker Intel Corp. on Tuesday said personal computer sales "bottomed out" in the first quarter. Neither IDC nor Gartner wanted to match Intel's bold assessment, but IDC took a more optimistic stance.

"I don't think Intel's comment was meant to say we're going to come roaring back next quarter," Loverde said. "It's likely we won't see growth deteriorate from here."

Before the release of Wednesday's numbers, IDC had forecast an 8.4 percent decline in the second quarter and a 4.5 percent drop in the third before seeing growth in the fourth quarter.

George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, said in a statement that retailers may be restocking inventory, but "this restocking should not be interpreted as a recovery in PC end-user demand. It's still unclear if the global PC market has hit the bottom."

Agencies

Toshiba to take over 100 percent of Panasonic LCD JV

Japan's Toshiba Corp plans to take a 100 per cent stake in its struggling liquid crystal display (LCD) joint venture with Panasonic Corp, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology, currently owned 60 per cent by Toshiba and 40 per cent by Panasonic, is the world's second-largest maker of small and midsized LCD panels used in cell phones, car navigation systems and other devices.

Toshiba has decided to buy Panasonic's 40 per cent stake for several billion yen, the source said, confirming an earlier report in the Nikkei business daily.

No one at Toshiba or Panasonic, formerly named Matsushita Electric Industrial, was immediately available for comment.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been made public.

Hit by falling prices and sluggish demand, Toshiba Matsushita Display is expected to post an operating loss of 30 billion yen on sales of 270 billion yen for the financial year ending this month.

Despite the earnings downturn, Toshiba still views the small and midsize display business as an important business and taking a 100 per cent stake will allow it to accelerate decision-making and restructuring, the source said.

Toshiba is planning to cut costs by 300 billion yen in the next business year from April as it braces for its worst-ever annual loss in the year ending this month.

At the same time the deal should allow Panasonic, the world's top maker of plasma TVs, to focus more of its resources on large displays, though it will still hold 25 per cent in another small and midsized LCD venture majority-owned by Hitachi Ltd.

Toshiba Matsushita Display held 10.3 per cent of the global market for small and midsize LCDs in 2008, second only to Sharp Corp's 20.2 per cent share, the Nikkei said, citing figures from research firm DisplaySearch.

The move will mark the latest realignment of the LCD sector.

Earlier this month NEC Corp said it would close a LCD plant in Japan while Sony Corp and Seiko Epson Corp announced that they were considering an alliance in small-sized LCDs.

After making the venture wholly-owned, Toshiba plans to scale back production of amorphous silicon panels, which have been hit hard by sliding prices, and focus on higher-end polycrystalline silicon panels, the Nikkei said.

Agencies