Toshiba, O.C. Subsidiary Lose Their PC Primacy : Computers: Sales still going up, but rivals grow even faster. Company questions marketing firm’s figures.

Toshiba Corp. and its American subsidiary lost their position as the biggest seller of IBM-compatible portable computers last year to rival Compaq Computer Corp., according to a report released Wednesday by the market research firm Dataquest Inc.

Though its sales grew dramatically, the Tokyo-based operation slipped from the No. 1 spot in the $14.9-billion portable computer industry for the first time because competitors such as Compaq in Houston grew faster, according to Dataquest in San Jose.

Compaq, which saw its market share of worldwide revenue leap from 11% in 1992 to 13.6% in 1993, pushed forward in part because it focused on expanding distribution and price cuts rather than technology innovation, said analyst Janet Cole, author of the report.

In contrast, Toshiba and Toshiba America’s computer division in Irvine focused on some higher-class, higher-priced models such as its $4,000 Portege, a portable computer with all the technological features aimed at wealthy executives or frequent travelers, Cole said. As a result, while its worldwide revenue grew from $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion, its market share fell from 12% in 1992 to 11.4% in 1993.

Steve Lair, vice president of marketing at Toshiba America’s computer division, questioned the accuracy of the market research firm’s figures. Lair, a former vice president at Dataquest, said that rival market researcher International Data Corp. in Boston calculated that Toshiba, Apple and Compaq were in a dead heat for first place, with about 14% each.

He also said that Dataquest includes in its figures shipments of computers that are sitting on store shelves and were not actually sold to consumers.

Toshiba was able to surpass Cupertino-based Apple Computer Inc. in the portable business. Apple had the highest market share of any portable vendor in 1992 with 12.6%, but it slipped to 10.2% in 1993.

Cole said Apple fell to third place after an enormous growth spurt in the prior years as it launched its first portable computers. Apple was the market leader last year. Its machines are considered in a separate market from the IBM-compatible machines.

No. 4-ranked NEC Corp., another Japanese competitor, kept its position as its market share grew from 8.2% to 9.6%. IBM, meanwhile, stayed No. 5 as its market share grew from 5.8% to 8.8%. Together, the top five players captured 53.6% of the overall portable market in 1993, up from 49.7% a year earlier.

Toshiba dominated the No. 1 market share position in the IBM-compatible market ever since the portable category emerged in the mid-1980s. Even when it suffered competitive difficulties in 1990, Toshiba still maintained the top spot.

Lair acknowledged that one key Toshiba America marketing manager, Steven Andler, recently defected to AST Research Inc. in Irvine, where he works on AST’s new line of portable computers. Andler was largely responsible for bringing Toshiba’s Portege to market.

AST needs the help. It came in sixth on the market share list with 2.8% in 1993, up from 2.3% a year earlier.