PC Industry Logs Strong Sales

The worldwide personal computer industry grew 15 percent last year, led by strong demand in the United States, where 37 percent of all households are now connected to the Internet, according to preliminary statistics from Dataquest Inc.

"Affordability and growing relevance of Internet content is sustaining double-digit PC growth in the U.S.," said Bill Schaub, vice president for Dataquest's personal computing and peripherals group.

Worldwide, Compaq Computer Corp. remains the No. 1 seller of PCs, shipping 12.8 million computers in 1998 to gain 14 percent of the market. International Business Machines Corp. kept the No. 2 position with 8.2 percent of the market, but Dell Computer Corp. decreased the gap, growing 65 percent in 1998 to account for 7.9 percent of all PCs shipped.

"Dell now has posted 13 consecutive quarters of 50 percent-plus growth, leveraging its business model to insure that they are the price leader in the professional market," said Schaub.

Hewlett-Packard Co. finished the year as the fourth-largest shipper of personal computers, with 5.8 percent of the market, and Packard Bell NEC Inc. was fifth with 4.3 percent.

A separate report released by International Data Corp. based on preliminary calculations showed slightly different figures for PC sales and market share but concurred with Dataquest as to the top five vendors in 1998.