Acer continues to gain on HP as world's top PC maker

Acer is gaining market share and continues to close the gap between itself and the world's top computer seller, Hewlett-Packard, according to the market research firm Gartner.

Gartner released its second-quarter PC shipment figures, which show Acer passing Dell as the No. 2 computer seller worldwide. IDC earlier reported that Dell had retaken second place from Acer within the United States by focusing on corporate customers. Mobille computers aimed at consumers took a hit as Apple's iPad stole a chunk of that market.

"The consumer PC market registered double-digit shipment growth, but consumer mobile shipment growth slowed. This was due in part to slower growth of mini-notebooks," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "Surging popularity of Apple's iPad temporarily cannibalized mini-notebooks, as well as consumer notebook sales to some degree. It is not certain at this stage if the cannibalization will continue with the current price point of media tablets."

Overall PC shipments increased 21 percent in the second quarter, to 83 million worldwide. HP held a 17.4 percent market share, down 1.4 percent from last year. Acer held 13 percent of the market, up 1 percent, while Dell fell 0.2 percent to a 12.4 percent market share.

Acer has taken over as the top computer seller in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. However, HP and Dell still dominate the U.S. market with 25.7 and 23.7 percent of the market, respectively. Acer is a distant third at 11.3 percent, down 1.8 percent from last year.