Tiburon (CA) – Hewlett Packard (HP) has caught up with Dell in the workstation segment and is now challenging its rival for the market lead.
According to Jon Peddie Research (JPR), HP and Dell are in a dead heat for command in the workstation market, with both companies holding about a 38% share and Dell holding a slight lead. JPR mentioned that Dell has been the unquestioned leader in the segment, controlling about 46% of the market back in 2004, while HP had just about 27%. The lead melted away in the following years and HP’s strong pace is especially shown by the fact that the company held just 33.4% in Q1 of 2008, but was up to 38% by Q4.
Overall, it appears that the workstation market has been severely affected by the declining economy. JPR said that 764,300 workstations were sold in Q4 2008, which was down from 854,200 in Q3 2008 and down from 847,900 in Q4 2007. Revenue from workstations dropped from $2.0 billion in Q4 2007 to $1.6 billion in Q4 2008.
“Thanks to the deep economic malaise that set in across the globe, the workstation market suffered a decline of 9.9% year over year, with a total of 764.3 thousand workstations shipped,” JPR said. “And with the quarter seeing deflation occur even in markets where prices ordinarily only go up, workstation ASPs – no stranger to quarterly declines – took an extra deep discount, dropping 13.4%. The nose dives of both units and ASPs conspired to paint an even poorer picture for revenue, which dropped 21.9% to $1.58 billion.”
