Compaq Computer Corp., the world’s largest personal-computer maker, shipped the most PCs last quarter, and Apple Computer Inc. regained the No. 2 spot, according to a survey by Dataquest Inc., an industry research firm.
Houston-based Compaq’s third-quarter shipments rose 22 percent, to about 1.49 million PCs,
Apple ranked second, with 1.28 million units shipped, 21 percent higher than in the year-earlier period. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company overtook International Business Machines Corp. as the second-biggest seller of PCs through the third quarter of 1995 by boosting its market share to 9 percent from 7.4 percent in the second quarter.
IBM, which depends more on sales to corporations than consumers, last quarter shipped 1.15 million PCs, 13 percent more than in the year-earlier period, Dataquest said.
Shipments in the current quarter are expected to be “the largest in the history of the PC business,” about 17 million, Dataquest said.
Meanwhile, a group of 13 large U.S. technology companies will publish a study next month urging the government to change computer-coding export laws the firms say hinder overseas sales.
The group, known as the Computer Systems Policy Project, includes IBM, Digital Equipment Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
The study says laws restricting exports of hard-to-break codes for software and computers prevent U.S. companies from selling more of their products in Europe and Asia, where more complicated encryption is standard, group officials said.
