PC Sales Aren't as Bad as Expected

Microsoft will probably report better than expected Windows revenue when it issues its third-quarter earnings numbers on Oct. 24, according to estimates of PC shipments this week by research firm IDC.

By IDC's estimate, personal computer makers shipped about 81.6 million systems in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, or about 7.6% fewer than in the same period the year before. That number was slightly less than an earlier forecast by the Framingham, Mass. research company, which had changed its projections several times but finally settled on a 9.5% contraction for the quarter.

IDC credited some of the unanticipated uptick to increased purchases of new systems by businesses hustling to eradicate Windows XP before the support plug's pulled next April, with the remainder accounted for by OEMs filling their supply pipelines with machines for the holiday sales season.

The "XP-Effect" was "nothing crazy, nothing great," acknowledged Rajani Singh, an IDC analyst, in an interview Thursday. But it helped. "XP is bringing some volume," she asserted. "It moved the numbers upward a little bit."