Global shipments of personal computers surged in the fourth quarter, helped by strong US holiday sales of low-cost notebooks.

The results capped a roller coaster year for the PC market, which started off badly but showed steady improvement and managed to post growth over 2008.

According to a quarterly survey released on Wednesday by industry tracker IDC, the PC market leapt 15.2 percent in the October-December period to 85.8 million units.

Research house Gartner recorded an even steeper gain of 22.1 percent in the same period. Top PC vendors Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Lenovo Group all posted big increases.

The industry trackers said continued strong sales of low-cost notebook and netbook computers during the holiday quarter and a big contraction in sales a year ago contributed to the strong year-on-year gain in PC shipments.

IDC analyst Jay Chou highlighted the big growth in the US
market, which he said were fueled by price cuts that started even earlier in the holiday season than last year.

Chou said consumers continue to gravitate towards lower cost machines. "For $400 or $500, it's not too much of one's income even in this economy."    

PC shipments in the US rose roughly 25 percent, a strong result that still lagged growth seen in Asia. Sales growth also returned in Europe, which had been a weak spot all year.

Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said the results indicate "the recovery of the PC market on a global level." Overall, shipments rose 2.3 percent in 2009, according to IDC. Gartner pegged the growth at 5.2 percent for the year.

HP solidified its leadership in the global PC market in the fourth quarter. The company grew its share to 21 percent and posted a 23 percent increase in shipments from a year ago, according to IDC.

Acer took its share up to 13.4 percent with a 28 percent rise in shipments. Third-place Dell continued to lose market share, falling to 12.4 percent despite a modest 5 percent rise in shipments.

Lenovo and Toshiba Corp were in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Lenovo's shipments jumped 42 percent, while Toshiba's climbed 30 percent.

Apple, which does not rank in the top 5 globally, fell to fifth place in the US market behind Toshiba, despite a 31 percent rise in shipments in the region. - Reuters