HP ousted as top PC maker by Lenovo, Chinese firm that bought IBM unit
Lenovo, the Chinese firm that bought IBM's PC unit , has ended the six-year reign of Hewlett Packard as the world's top PC manufacturer .
Lenovo : IBM buy was a big step
HP's demotion highlights "the challenges facing Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman as she strives to revive growth at the 73-year-old U.S. technology company," said Bloomberg.
Lenovo's rise to the top spot accelerated seven years ago when it bought IBM's PC unit.
Last quarter the Beijing-based company accounted for 15.7 percent of PC shipments, compared with 15.5 percent for Hewlett-Packard, said market-research firm Gartner .
Hewlett-Packard has been through management turmoil over the past few years ,with at one point a plan to spin off the PC unit. That idea was scotched by Whitman.
Also impacting HP has been the recession and a shift away from traditional computers toward mobile devices, such as the iPad. Lenovo has also done well in less- developed countries .
"Emerging markets are outperforming developed markets,” said Brent Bracelin, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. “It’s not just Lenovo, it’s part of a bigger trend across the consumer-device market.”
Global PC shipments fell 8.3 percent from a year earlier to 87.5 million last quarter, according to Gartner.
The PC industry hopes for a boost from the introduction this month of Windows 8, the new version of Microsoft 's flagship operating system, said Bloomberg.
Meawnhile Lenovo has been helped by income growth in China, the largest market for PCs and the world’s most-populous nation. Profit growth has exceeded 25 percent for 12 straight quarters.
CEO Yang Yuanqing has said he won’t stop with a lead in PCs. He wants to dominate in mobile devices as well.
Lenovo this week announced a group of four computers that convert from notebooks to tablets and will run Windows 8.