“The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region continued to be the largest PC market in 2007, helped by robust Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa growth, ” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner ’s Client Computing Markets group. “Asia/Pacific took over as the second largest PC market during the fourth quarter. 2007 showed a clear indication of the worldwide PC market landscape: strong growth in emerging regions such as Asia/Pacific and slower growth in markets such as the United States. ”

Hewlett-Packard was in a virtual tie with Dell for the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments in 2006, and HP extended its lead in 2007 as it accounted for 18.2 percent of global PC shipments (see Table 1). “HP established a solid number one position in 2007. Robust consumer and mobile PC sales across all regions were two main drivers of HP ’s overall growth, ” Ms. Kitagawa said. “The company experienced the strongest growth among the top 5 vendors in fourth quarter of 2007, as its shipments increased 23.3 percent in the quarter (see Table 2). ”

While Dell ’s PC shipments grew just 1.7 percent in 2007 due in part to the company ’s reorganization, the company showed signs of a recovery at the end of the year as it registered positive year-over-year growth for two consecutive quarters. In the fourth quarter of 2007, Dell ’s worldwide PC shipments grew 17 percent, as its market share reached 14.5 percent. Retail and channel partner expansion in several markets, including the United States and Asia/Pacific contributed to Dell ’s positive fourth quarter results.

In the fourth quarter, Acer achieved solid consumer mobile PC growth in EMEA and the United States. Acer ’s acquisition of Gateway ’s consumer business boosted the shipment volume. Lenovo also well exceeded the worldwide growth average. Despite a lack or weak consumer market presence, Lenovo showed a relatively good performance in consumer sales in both EMEA and the United States during the quarter.

The U.S. PC market grew 5.3 percent in 2007 with shipments reaching 64.2 million units. The U.S. PC market ended the year better than expected with shipments in the fourth quarter totaling 17 million units, a 7.2 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2006 (see Table 3).The results exceeded Gartner ’s expectations. Mobile PC shipments exceeded desk-based PC shipments for the second consecutive quarter.

Dell achieved shipments growth in the fourth quarter of 2007 for the first time in last five quarters. Rapid retail expansion boosted Dell ’s shipment volume in the consumer space, while channel partnership efforts strengthened the professional segment.

In the fourth quarter, Apple experienced another good quarter in the U.S. market.

PC shipments in EMEA reached 92 million units in 2007, a 14.7 percent increase from 2006. In the fourth quarter, PC shipments totaled 28.8 million units, a 12.5 percent increase from the same time the year before. The fourth quarter of the year saw continued growth in notebooks, but desk-based PC growth was weaker than expected for many vendors.

In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments totaled 70.7 million units in 2007, a 18.7 percent increase from 2006. In the fourth quarter, PC shipments reached 18.6 million units, a 18.3 percent increase from fourth quarter results in 2006. Vendors continue to experience strong growth in mobile sales. India and Vietnam exhibited triple-digit year-over-year growth rates.

The Latin America PC market had PC shipments reach 24 million units in 2007, a 8.9 percent increase from 2006. In the fourth quarter, PC shipments grew 24.5 percent. The region continued to lead the worldwide PC market in growth.

In Japan, PC shipments in 2007 totaled 13.9 million units, a 5.1 percent increase from 2006. PC shipments in Japan grew 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. Both the professional and private markets showed positive year-over-year growth.

These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program.