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Gartner: Worldwide PC sales rise 14.8 per cent
New York: Sales of personal computers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa jumped 18.7 percent to 15.4 million units in the second quarter from a year earlier, the market research firm Gartner said Tuesday.

Worldwide, PC shipments totaled 48.9 million units in the second quarter, a 14.8 percent increase from a year earlier, Gartner said in a preliminary report. PC shipments in the United States totalled 15.6 million units, a 10 percent increase from the second quarter of 2004, the preliminary report said. Shipments in the Asia/Pacific region increased 17.3 percent

Gartner and another research firm said Apple had moved up to become the No. 4 seller of personal computers in the United States in the quarter, while Lenovo Group, the Chinese company that recently bought the IBM PC brand, lost share.

Apple won 4.5 percent of the market to trail only Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, the research company IDC said Monday. Gartner put Apple's share at 4.3 percent. Gartner had Hewlett Packard ahead in Europe, followed by Dell, Acer, Fujitsu-Siemens and Lenovo.
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HP announces 14,500 job cuts
New York: Hewlett-Packard has announced plans to cut 14,500 jobs over the next 18 months, representing 10% of the company's worldwide workforce .

The plans were the first significant move by Mark Hurd, who was hired after Carly Fiorina was ousted as chief executive in February. He had earlier hinted at a likely restructuring of the personal computer and printer maker, shortly after he joined the company.

"I think this will make us simpler, nimbler and quicker," Hurd said. "We will always be working to grow our company and to get more efficient. The two go hand in hand."

The company said "more than half" of the jobs would be cut in support functions such as information technology, human resources and finance. But the firm declined to say where exactly the axe would fall.

HP employs 42,000 people in Europe, the Middle East and Africa but does not break the figure down to country level. It has offices in Britain in London, Birmingham, Reading, Bristol, Bracknell, Warrington and Erskine.

HP aims to save an annual $1.9bn through the overhaul. The company said the impact on the sales force and research and development would be minimal. The company is also cutting back retirement benefits for its American employees, realising savings of about $300mn a year.

The HP announcement comes a day after IBM increased its planned job cuts from 13,000 to 14,500, most of which will be in Europe.
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