Global PC shipments fall in the first quarter

"Caijing comprehensive report" Two U.S. market research companies reported 13th, the global PC shipments in the first quarter of 2011 fell, failed to achieve the previous expected year-on-year growth, the market appears weak. The US Gartner Company's statistics show that global PC shipments were 84.25 million in the first quarter, down 1.1% from a year earlier. Gartner had expected global PC shipments to grow by 3% per cent in the first quarter.　　U.S. International Data Corp., which uses different statistical methods for Gartner, reports that global PC shipments fell 3.2% per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, with the company previously conservatively predicting a 1.5% per cent increase in the market. Gartner said in its report that the data showed weakness in the PC market, rather than a normal off-season decline.　　The company is examining whether the rise of tablet computers will have a long-term impact on the PC market, according to analysts, who have lost traction to consumers and demand is turning to consumer electronics such as tablets. Analysts at the US international Data company argue that the inability to fully attribute the weakness of the PC market to the rise of tablet computers is an important factor in the market slump, as corporate spending cuts, prolonged personal computer life and a lack of novelty experience for PC users.　　The company predicts that the global PC market will remain sluggish until the next quarter, but is expected to start to improve in the second half of 2011. Hewlett-Packard is still the world's largest PC maker, according to statistics from two companies. Lenovo's market share ranked fourth in the statistics of two companies, and the only one of the top five PC makers to achieve double-digit growth in shipments.