Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL) Face Slow PC Sales

It is no surprise that personal computer sales were eventually start to slow in sales as consumers migrate to tablets, but it was a surprise that global personal computer sales were down 3.2 percent in the first quarter, according to IDC, putting pressure on sellers like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ:DELL).

At issue this time around doesn't appear to be competition from tablets, but rather the weak economy and longer lifetimes of the PCs.

Bob O’Donnell, a program vice president at IDC, said in a statement, “Slower-than-expected commercial growth in the first quarter failed to offset the ongoing challenges in the consumer market. While it’s tempting to blame the decline completely on the growth of media tablets, we believe other factors, including extended PC lifetimes and the lack of compelling new PC experiences, played equally significant roles.”

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) is still the industry’s top seller, accounting for 18.9 percent of the global market, according to IDC. Dell Inc. was second with 12.8 percent, and Acer Inc. was third with 11.2 percent.

IDC had expected PC sales to increase 1.5 percent over last year.

Dell closed Wednesday at $15.42, gaining $0.72, or 4.90 percent. Hewlett-Packard closed at $41.13, up $0.05, or 0.12 percent.

Staples To Sell (RIMM) (MMI) (DELL) Tablets

As a wave of competitors to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad 2 hit the market, Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) announced they're going to offer a wide range of new tablets, including those from Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), Samsung, Acer, Toshiba and Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI).

The office supply and electronic retailer said they're now taking pre-orders for a variety of tablets now available.

Staples said they have a goal of becoming a major player in the tablet market as the sector grows.

Major retailing competitors of the company like Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) and Radio Shack (NYSE:RSH) have already either committed to or are offering tablets too.

Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Acer to Battle it Out Over Business PCs

Acer, best known in the U.S. as a maker of low-priced consumer PCs, is getting ready to sell storage and x86 commodity servers to U.S. businesses.

The Taiwanese company, which has sold servers and storage in Asia and Europe for years, says it will initially sell 16 servers in the U.S., including tower, rack, blade, and rack multi-node models. The systems will be available with either Intel Xeon (NASDAQ:INTC) processors or Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron (AMD) chips. Acer will resell Hitachi storage products.

Acer has offered an extensive line of consumer PCs for quite awhile in the U.S., competing with other vendors primarily on price. Acer had a strong run through 2009, because of the popularity of its mini-laptops, called netbooks, during the height of the economic recession. Last year, however, consumer spending on PCs slowed with the rising popularity of tablets, particularly the Apple iPad (NASDAQ:AAPL). As a result, Dell in the fourth quarter of last year took back the title of the world's second largest computer maker in terms of shipments from Acer, which fell to number three, according to IDC. Acer in the quarter saw shipments fall 15% year to year.

Selling servers in the U.S. will add the business PC market as a battleground between Acer, Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ). To compete effectively, Acer will need more than low prices. It will also have to provide onsite service.





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Intel (INTC), AMD (NYSE:AMD)-based Servers Unveiled by Acer

Acer is looking to parlay its success in the PC business with a new line of Intel ((NASDAQ:INTC)- and AMD-based servers and storage devices that it is introducing into the U.S. market.

Acer, which over the past couple of years has muscled its way into becoming one of the top PC manufacturers in the world, is now looking to reclaim a part of the highly competitive U.S. server market.

Acer on Feb. 21 unveiled a lineup of server and storage offerings powered by x86 processors from both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices and aimed at a number of areas of the market, from SMBs to cloud computing environments.

The product rollout comes about a year after Acer reinvigorated its data center offerings with new servers and storage products in the European market, and several years after it made its last efforts to establish a toe-hold in the United States.

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