Hewlett-Packard has been ousted from the top of the UK PC
market by rivals Dell and Acer after a torrid quarter of falling
sales.
According to IDC preliminary results, total UK PC sales fell
7.2% to 2.5 million units in the second quarter, but this is better
than the 12.1% drop the analyst house had earlier forecast.
However, HP, which recently
parted with UK Personal Systems Group head David Wright, saw
shipments fall 25.5% - more than three times the market
average.
Losing market share
Split by platform, the industry heavyweight's sales fell 19.9%
and 29.2% respectively in the desktop and notebook segments, ceding
the top spot in the UK for the first time in nearly a year.
"HP is not consciously pushing mini notebooks, and this is
costing it market share," said Eszter Morvay, IDC research
manager.
In the quarter, HP
combined its professional and consumer PC businesses to cut
costs and market watcher Gartner
reckons this could also have resulted in some lost sales.
More than 1.16 million consumer portables were sold in the three
months, making it by far the biggest sector, but unlike rivals Dell
and Acer, which grew 86.2% and 66.4% respectively, HP sales fell
14.6%.
Mini notebooks accounted for one-third of this segment, but HP
has failed to aggressively compete in the burgeoning sector, said
IDC.
A tough year
Across all form factors,
Dell declined close to the market rate at 7.3%, while Acer
posted growth of 36.7%.
In the UK, only consumer notebooks posted growth at 30.6%, as
business and retail desktops each declined by 24.5% and
professional notebook shipments fell 27%.
Morvay said the channel had been in a better position than it
had during the first quarter when it was "fully stocked" following
the Christmas season so there was greater room for sales-in.
She added that the rest of the year is likely to remain tough,
but HP will be hoping that Jos Brenkel, who runs PSG for the
supplier in the Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa, will have a
big impact when he
oversees the UK PSG for the next three months.