HP grows while Dell shrinks

It looks like Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is whipping up again on competitor Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) after taking the top spot in global PC sales last year. First quarter of 2007 data indicates that HP seems to be growing very nicely while Dell is growing backwards. HP saw first-quarter PC shipments go up by 28.2% (year-over-year), taking its global market share from 16.5% to 19.1%. At the same time, Dell's global PC shipments declined by 6.9% as its market share went from 18.2% to 15.2%.

The Taiwanese PC maker, Acer, nosed in on the third spot (held by China's Lenovo Group) with 6.7% market share. Acer has made great strides in recent years and has become the fastest-growing computer manufacturer in many respects. Meanwhile, HP's retooling since Mark Hurd came on-board is showing fantastic results as of late, with HP stabilizing in sales and profit and wrestling that top crown away from Dell.

It's been interesting to watch the inversely-proportionate relationship going on between HP and Dell since 2005. While Dell held the top spot back then, chinks in its armor were starting to show -- among them, bad (bad) customer support and a stinky reputation that lingers with it to this day. HP, meanwhile, was re-engineering in order to knock Dell back down. It did precisely that in 2006 and hasn't looked back. Hurd, ever the coy CEO, knows exactly what he's doing. The only question left o Michael Dell (now CEO of Dell again) is this: Can that spicy new executive team you have lined up get Dell back on the right track?.