HP Gains Continue as Dell Struggles and Slow Commercial Demand Limits Growth in the United States, According to IDC.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Worldwide PC shipments grew by 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. While Europe, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Canada, and Latin America continued to grow at a healthy clip, shipments in the United States and Japan continued to decline. Slowing commercial sales constrained the growth of some market leaders and had a significant impact on the U.S. and Japanese markets. Despite these pockets of slow growth, the retail and consumer markets remained relatively strong - even in more mature regions.

Worldwide PC shipment growth of 8.7% brought quarterly shipments to 65.6 million for the quarter. This was down from 9.1% growth in the third quarter and 1.4% below a forecast of 10.1% growth for the fourth quarter. For all of 2006, PC shipments reached 228.6 million with growth of 10.0% compared to growth of 16% in 2005 and a forecast of 10.4% for 2006.

"This was a busy quarter, with the release of Vista for commercial users and the pending release for consumers on top of the ongoing transition to Portables and a generally slowing market," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Add to that the changing pricing environment and segment dynamics and it was a very challenging quarter. HP…