HP named `Largest Global PC Maker` for 2007

HP was named the world’s largest PC manufacturer for 2007, with 18.8 percent of global PC unit shipments for the calendar year, according to results from the fourth calendar quarter of 2007 released recently by industry analyst firm IDC.

According to IDC’s report, HP’s global unit shipment growth of 30.1 percent for 2007 more than doubled the average yearly growth rate of 14.3 percent. In the final quarter of 2007, HP held its lead in worldwide PC unit shipments with 19 percent market share.

The company grew at a rate of 23.3 percent year over year for the fourth calendar quarter, substantially faster than the overall global PC market growth rate of 15.5 percent for the period. HP’s U.S. shipments grew at a rate of 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter to capture 24.3 percent market share.

“In calendar 2007, HP completed a makeover of its extensive PC portfolio serving large enterprise, small business and individual consumers. IDC’s report shows that customers the world over enthusiastically embraced HP’s products for their high design and leading-edge technology,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “We will continue to work to earn customer loyalty by delivering an excellent experience and innovation that really matters.”

The HP personal computing lineup delivers some of the industry’s most stylish designs and easy-to-use features, such as the youth-designed Artist Edition HP Pavilion notebook and the tablet and touch-enabled HP Pavilion tx2000

Bill Gates (Rare pics)

William Henry Gates III (born 28 October 1955 is an American entrepreneur, software executive, philanthropist and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft he has held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and he remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 9% of the common stock.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is widely admired,his business tactics have been criticized as anti-competitive and in some instances ruled as such in court. Since amassing his fortune, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

The annual Forbes magazine's list of The World's Billionaires has ranked Gates as the richest person in the world from 1995 to 2007, with recent estimates putting his net worth over $56 billion USD. When family wealth is considered, his family ranks second behind the Walton family, heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. In July 2007, Fortune magazine reported that the increase in value of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's holdings of stock caused him to surpass Bill Gates as the world's richest man. Forbes maintains that Slim is second to Gates as of its last calculation of billionaire fortunes. Forbes does not plan to recalculate Slim's wealth until next year.