Gartner PC shipment numbers put HP in the top position in the U.S. market for the first time since 2001. In the U.S., HP was followed by Dell, Acer, Apple and Toshiba. Netbook sales were a boost to overall numbers, though Apple, despite not offering one, still performed commendably.

Gartner is reporting a 6.5 percent decline in worldwide PC shipments for the first quarter of 2009, according to numbers released on April 15 that put the quarter’s figure at 67.2 million units shipped.

 
In terms of worldwide numbers, Hewlett-Packard took the lead over Dell, with 19.8 percent of the first-quarter market share, to Dell’s 13.1 percent. With a 13 percent share, Acer ranked just behind Dell—which this calendar year has released a spiffy, ultra-thin laptop, a lineup of enterprise solutions, and intentions to debut encrypted solid-state drives and a new mobile security bundle.

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Fourth place went to Lenovo, with 6.6 percent of the first-quarter market share, and Toshiba followed in fifth place, with 5.5 percent market share.
 
In the U.S. market, everyone held their same positions except for Lenovo, which was bumped from the equation and replaced by Apple, with a fourth-place U.S. market share of 7.4 percent for the first quarter of 2009—a figure that represents a 1.1 percent loss from the first quarter of 2008.

 
Gartner reports that Apple’s relatively higher average selling price for Macs “created challenges for it in the tough economy, but that its deft control of inventories limited its shipment decline.”

 
IDC also recently reported first-quarter PC shipments numbers, giving Apple a slightly more generous 7.6 percent market share, though dropping its market share by 1.2 percent from the first quarter of 2008.

 
The lower ASPs of mininotebooks and netbooks, such as those offered by HP, Acer and Toshiba, helped to keep PC shipments in the United States somewhat stabilized. The 3 percent fall in shipments, notable in a struggling economy, was attributed to a move by consumers to more portable, and less expensive, devices.