Lenovo Proves Sky Isn't Falling by Shipping Record Number of PCs

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Slumping PC sales didn't stop Lenovo from shipping 14.1 million computers last quarter.

Have you heard the one about the post-PC era? Of course you have, probably a thousand times by now because of all the attention being paid to tablets and smartphones, and the uncertainty surrounding Microsoft's touch-friendly Windows 8 platform. But don't believe anyone who tells you the sky is falling -- including Apple CEO Tim Cook, who justified the launch of a $799 128GB iPad by saying people would rather play on his tablet "than their old "PCs" -- because Lenovo is proving there's still a significant market for computers.
For its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2012, Lenovo shipped 14.1 million PCs, which is the most it's ever shipped in any single quarter. That was enough to give Lenovo a 15.9 share of the global market, another record in what it called its "best quarter ever."
Lenovo's performance doesn't appear to be a temporary blip, either. Compared to other major PC players, Lenovo claims it's experienced the fastest growth for 13 consecutive quarters. It's also outpaced the PC market for 15 straight quarters.
More records were broken. Lenovo's third quarter earnings were $205 million, the highest ever and an increase of 34 percent year-over-year. It's gross profit was $1.1 billion, up 15 percent compared to a year ago, while operating profit was $243 million, up 26 percent year-over-year.
"With the strong execution of our 'Protect and Attack' strategy, Lenovo has not only achieved record revenue, profit and global PC market share last quarter, but also our smartphone and tablet businesses have delivered hyper growth. Even more, our worldwide tablet and China smartphone businesses have become profitable," said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO, Lenovo Group. "As we continue into the PC Plus era, Lenovo has already laid a solid foundation. Our new organization will provide the structure to elevate our diversified business and drive it to the next level. We are confident that we can win through differentiation and will be the innovation leader in the PC Plus era."
What about desktop PCs specifically? Lenovo's desktop sales increased 1 percent year-over-year to $2.8 billion, representing nearly a third -- 30 percent -- of the company's total sales revenue.
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