HP extended its lead position in the worldwide PC market, according to results from the first calendar quarter of 2007 released today by IDC.

HP has continued to widen its market share lead over its closest competitor while posting record operating profit in its most recently reported first quarter results. Results from the analyst firm for the period also mark the seventh consecutive quarter that HP has grown faster worldwide than the global market.

"HP's focus on delivering the best customer experience while optimising its business model, targeting specific segments and delivering innovation that matters is driving global growth and market share gain," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "HP is addressing the needs of consumers, small and midsize businesses and enterprise customers with the industry's broadest portfolio of products available through the purchase channels of their choice."

HP's personal systems products include handhelds, smartphones, notebooks, desktops, MediaSmart servers, plus the new categories of "walk-up" computing and entertainment devices and next-generation TVs. HP products are offered through the industry's broadest global distribution channels of direct, online and retail with more than 250,000 worldwide reseller partners and retail outlets.

According to IDC's report, HP extended its worldwide PC shipment unit share lead to 3.9 percentage points over its nearest competitor for a market share of 19.1 percent. HP worldwide PC shipments grew at a rate of 28.2 percent year-over-year, more than two and a half times faster than the growth rate for the overall worldwide PC market for the period. HP's U.S. PC shipments grew 25.5 percent – more than seven times faster than the market in the first quarter – to increase share to 24.2 percent from 20 percent for the same period in 2006.

Additional information on the products and new designs is available at www.hp.com/go/desktopdesign.