More rankings, this time for the major PC vendors.

The numbers in the following chart are from Gartner and cover U.S. shipments in the first quarter of 2009. Hewlett-Packard for the first time since 2001 has taken the lead, slipping ahead of Dell. Apple, despite its market share slipping from over 9% down to 7.4%, is solidly in fourth place. Apple stock has been doing quite well and is one of the few that is trading above its 200-day moving average so investors are apparently not too concerned about market share numbers. Gartner has this to say:

Analysts think that Apple’s relatively higher ASP created challenges for it in the tough economy, but that its deft control of inventories limited its shipment decline.

Company	1Q09 Shipments	1Q09 Market Share (%)	1Q08 Shipments	1Q08 Market Share (%)	1Q09-1Q08 Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard	4,228	27.7	3,804	24.8	11.1
Dell Inc.	3,996	26.2	4,775	31.2	-16.3
Acer	2,076	13.6	1,389	9.1	49.4
Apple Computer	1,135	7.4	1,148	7.5	-1.1
Toshiba	1,005	6.6	840	5.5	19.6
Others	2,837	18.6	3,371	22.0	-15.8
Total	15,276	100.0	15,327	100.0	-0.3

Overall, Gartner estimates that PC shipments worldwide fell 6.5% year-over-year while IDC puts the decline at 7.1%. Here is the chart showing Gartner's estimates for world-wide numbers:

Company	1Q09 Shipments	1Q09 Market Share (%)	1Q08 Shipments	1Q08 Market Share (%)	1Q09-1Q08 Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard	13,305	19.8	12,974	18.1	2.6
Dell Inc.	8,789	13.1	10,579	14.7	-16.9
Acer	8,758	13.0	6,911	9.6	26.7
Lenovo	4,430	6.6	4,798	6.7	-7.7
Toshiba	3,688	5.5	3,115	4.3	18.4
Others	28,239	42.0	33,467	46.6	-15.6
Total	67,209	100.0	71,846	100.0	-6.5

In a tough environment, Gartner points to H-P's success at the lower end with net-books and note-books as well as strong sales and distribution into the professional/enterprise market. Dell, on the other hand, has struggled, especially in the enterprise market.

One takeaway from Gartner's commentary is that a large percentage of PC shipments were at the low end: mobile consumer PCs, netbooks and mini-notebooks. Given the lower selling prices and thinner margins in these products, there is concern that revenues and profits will show greater declines than these shipment statistics might at first suggest.

Another takeaway here is that H-P is consolidating its position as a dominant player. Between their success in surging to the top spot in the PC market, their steady performance in servers, network gear, software and printers and their growth in the services business via the EDS buyout, the company is clearly poised to come out of this economic downturn stronger than ever. These rankings help explain why H-P is on so many BUY lists.