Dell Ties Compaq for U.S. Sales, Reports Say

Dell Computer Corp.’s rapid growth in personal computer shipments during the second quarter pulled it into a tie for first place with longtime market leader Compaq Computer Corp., each with a little more than 14% of total U.S. PC sales, two reports said. International Business Machines Corp., however, dropped from the top five PC vendors in terms of domestic combined commercial and consumer PC shipments. Hewlett-Packard Co., Gateway Inc. and Packard Bell NEC had almost identical market shares with about 7.7%, according to International Data Corp. The preliminary findings are from separate surveys by IDC and Dataquest.