Oh, the irony. Gartner announced yesterday that China’s Lenovo has passed HP to become the world’s No. 1 PC maker in the third quarter. The studies reinforce HP’s struggle against rival manufacturers and technologies as new CEO Meg Whitman tries to overhaul the stalled 73-year-old company. The Chinese firm, which vaulted into the PC market by buying IBM’s personal computer division in 2005, took the top spot for the first time by growing its market share to 15.7 percent, shipping an estimated 13.77 million units during the quarter, up nearly 10 percent from a year ago.
Recall that HP shot themselves in the foot last summer when CEO Leo Apotheker made the bonehead move of keeping Web-OS but dumping the PC division. Geeks shook their heads in disbelief while sales of HP PCs of course, fell through the bottom. Apotheker lasted only a few months after that when Meg Whitman was put in charge of turning things around.
