PC Shipments bounce back! The computer industry is saved!

Apparently either more people are becoming homeless due to the economy or they're getting sick of being hosed by Best Buy salesmen. After seeing a drop in PC shipments first and second quarter, the market bounced back marginally and the release of Windows 7 is supposed to only have a small effect on the market in the coming months.

Gartner has released a report that shows a rise of .5% in PC shipments during the last quarter from a year ago. A small but nonetheless positive gain, compared to the second quarter's 5% decline and the first's 6.5% drop. The growth was somewhat of a surprise to Gartner, which expected PC shipments to fall by 5.6% in the third quarter.

Last quarter held a milestone for Acer, as the company raced passed Dell to claim 15.4% of the global market, with the latter holding about 12.8%, and HP remained on top with a 19.9% share. HP performed about equal to the prior quarter, but Acer and Dell were neck and neck with 13.5% and 13.6% of the market. 

I wonder if the rise has anything to do with the upcoming holiday... oh what is it called again... oh yeah, Christmas. It's only a few months away people. Of course more models are getting bought up, because those crazy people that do their holiday shopping in advance are gobbling them up.

Okay, that might be just a shot in the dark (it is) but I'm not sure how thrilled you can be about a .5% rise in sales - but hey, at least the bottom of the market isn't dropping out.