Worldwide PC shipments in the third quarter of 2002 increased 5.8% from the same period last year, but there were still few signs of industry improvement, according to preliminary results from
Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. While the industry did grow, Gartner Dataquest analysts pointed out that during the third quarter of last year the PC industry was impacted by the Sept. 11
attacks. "In the third quarter last year, the worldwide market declined 12.4% compared to the previous year, in part because of the shipment stoppages immediately following the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11," said Charles Smulders, vice president of Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. "Therefore, in the third quarter of 2002, year-on-year growth rates artificially inflate
the true shipment picture."
