jmke

Computer shipments rose faster than expected in the second quarter, fueled by exceptional demand in emerging markets and a decline in prices in the U.S. and Western Europe, two research groups said Wednesday.

Worldwide shipments increased 16 percent from a year ago to 71.9 million PCs, according to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. The company had predicted 11.2 percent growth.

IDC, a technology research group based in Framingham, Mass., that uses different methods to track sales, found a 15.3 percent rise, to 70.6 million computers.

Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa attributed some of the surge to ongoing trends: rising shipments to emerging markets like China, Brazil, India and Russia; and the increasing number of computers per home thanks to the popularity of laptops. The power of the laptop segment was evident a day earlier, when chip maker Intel Corp. said second-quarter profit jumped 25 percent on ballooning global demand for the processors that serve as the brains of notebook computers.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h...dybjAD91V6NVG0

__________________