Although the PC industry keeps churning out growth quarter after quarter, the American market is slipping as a larger influence on all that growth, according to the market research firm IDC. In the latest quarter of tracking data, the U.S. saw just a 3.5% growth rate in shipped PCs, about half of IDC's projection. The reason? According to IDC, the "recession scare" kept PC sales at bay for many corporations as belt-tightening meant less information technology spending.

Global PC sales, though, were above expectations for the most recent quarter, which saw growth come in at over 14% -- a few percentage points above expectations. The European region saw much of this growth, where consumers increasingly opted for inexpensive portable PCs like the Asus Eee PC, similar to the trend the U.S. is seeing. However, these cheaper and smaller portable PCs still make up only a small fraction of overall PC sales.

Although the top spot in quarterly shipments still belonged to Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) -- which grew shipments 17.4% -- Dell, Inc. (NYSE: DELL) saw shipments rise as impressive 21.6% for the quarter as the PC maker continued its comeback after a nasty 2007. Dell's retail presence and emphasis on laptop PCs was heralded as being responsible for its growth as the Texas company remained in the #2 spot in overall sales. In the #3 spot was again Taiwan's Acer, which grew its shipments a staggering 66%. Acer folded in the recent acquisitions of both Europe's Packard Bell and Gateway from the U.S. to hit those numbers, but both acquisitions closed a few quarters ago, so they're not new. In fact, Acer's total shipments were down 20% from the year-ago quarter even though they were highest among the top-five PC makers.