HP has been named the world's largest PC manufacturer for 2007, with 18.8 per cent of global PC unit shipments for the calendar year, according to results from the fourth calendar quarter of 2007 released by industry analyst firm IDC.

According to IDC's report, HP's global unit shipment growth of 30.1 per cent for 2007 more than doubled the average yearly growth rate of 14.3 per cent. In the final quarter of 2007, HP held its lead in worldwide PC unit shipments with 19 per cent market share.

The company grew at a rate of 23.3 per cent year over year for the fourth calendar quarter, substantially faster than the overall global PC market growth rate of 15.5 per cent for the period. HP's US shipments grew at a rate of 9.8 per cent in the fourth quarter to capture 24.3 per cent market share.

"In calendar 2007, HP completed a makeover of its extensive PC portfolio serving large enterprise, small business and individual consumers. IDC's report shows that customers the world over enthusiastically embraced HP's products for their high design and leading-edge technology," said Todd Bradley, executive vice-president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "We will continue to work to earn customer loyalty by delivering an excellent experience and innovation that really matters."

The HP personal computing lineup delivers some of the industry's most stylish designs and easy-to-use features, such as the youth-designed Artist Edition HP Pavilion notebook and the tablet and touch-enabled HP Pavilion tx2000 Entertainment Notebook, both of which debuted earlier this month at CES 2008.