Hewlett-Packard reclaims top spot from Dell

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Friday, Jan. 17, 2003 | 9:49 a.m.

BOSTON -- Aggressive promotions and price cuts gave worldwide personal computer sales an unexpected boost in the fourth quarter, and Hewlett-Packard reclaimed the market's top spot from Dell Computer Corp.

Shipments increased 4.9 percent to 38.8 million units, topping analysts' forecasts of 4.4 percent growth, according to IDC. The push came from the U.S. market, which grew 6.6 percent from the same quarter in 2001, well above 3.5 percent forecasts.

Gartner Dataquest, another research firm, put quarterly growth at 5 percent.

For all of 2002, PC shipments rose 1.5 percent, following a 4.2 percent decline in 2001, according to IDC. Gartner, measuring slightly differently, said overall shipments rose 2.7 percent, compared to a 4 percent decline last year.

The figures were released Thursday.

There was no clear winner for the full year 2002. Gartner gave the crown to HP with a 16.2 percent share, while IDC said Dell finished first. The difference was partly attributable to different ways the research firms accounted for the merger between Compaq and HP last year.