U.S. Decline in PC Sales Leads to Worldwide Drop

The nation’s ailing personal computer industry has led to the first decline in worldwide PC sales, according to market research firm Gartner Dataquest.

Preliminary results from the second quarter indicate that worldwide shipments of personal computers totaled 30.4 million units, a decline of 1.9% from the second quarter of 2000.

“It’s slightly worse than we expected,” Gartner Dataquest analyst Todd Kort said. “Earlier this year, we were hoping for a [U.S.] turnaround in the third quarter, but now we’re not expecting a turnaround until Christmas at best.”

Dell Computer, the world’s top PC vendor with a 13% market share, was the only major computer maker to have positive growth rates in both the worldwide and domestic sectors. On Thursday, Dell said its second-quarter revenue and profit would fall within the range it set in May--going against the trend of mostly disappointing forecasts from other computer makers.