Microsoft Continues to Lead Worldwide Office Suite Market, According to Dataquest

First Quarter Results Show Lotus Made Gains

San Jose, Calif., July 15, 1996—The worldwide suite market showed substantial growth as first-quarter unit shipments increased 52 percent over the fourth quarter of last year, according to Dataquest. Microsoft was the top vendor, but its market share dropped from 82.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 1995 to 76.5 percent for the first quarter of this year. Lotus increased its shipment market share from 15.4 percent in the fourth quarter last year to 20.1 percent in the first quarter this year.

Microsoft's first quarter shipments actually increased 43 percent from the fourth quarter of last year, while Lotus' shipments increased 98 percent over the fourth quarter of last year (see Table 1).

"The renaissance of Lotus' SmartSuite in these figures demands some examination," said Chris Le Tocq, director and principal analyst of Dataquest's Personal Computing Software program. "These are shipment shares that include a significant OEM component and can be misleading. Nevertheless, even if the actual units used are not as large as the shipment figures would indicate, Lotus' strategy is a success as an example of targeting an increment in usage."

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide Quarterly Suite Shipment Estimates
(Thousands of Units)

                   Q4/95     Q4/95 Market         Q1/96     Q1/96 Market
Vendor         Shipments        Share (%)     Shipments        Share (%)
Microsoft          3,011             82.3         4,256             76.5
IBM/Lotus            564             15.4         1,117             20.1
Corel/Novell          85              2.3           190              3.4
Total              3,660            100.0         5,563            100.0
Source: Dataquest (July 1996)

Microsoft's revenue share is still at 90 percent. Novell lifted its share from 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year to 3.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. While Lotus had a strong quarter in unit shipments, its revenue share dropped to 6.7 percent in the first quarter (see Table 2).

Table 2
Preliminary Worldwide Quarterly Suite Revenue Market Share Estimates
(Percentage)

Vendor              Q4/95          Q1/96
Microsoft            90.4           89.8
IBM/Lotus             8.1            6.7
Corel/Novell          1.5            3.5
Source: Dataquest (July 1996)

Additional information about the suite market is available through Dataquest's Personal Computing Software program. A quarterly breakdown of the suites market for the past year is available in the Dataquest Alert entitled, "First Quarter 1996 Suite-Lotus Plays the IBM Card." For more information about purchasing this Dataquest Alert or about subscribing to Dataquest's Personal Computing Software program, please call 800-419-DATA.

More information about Dataquest's programs, descriptions of recent research reports, and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.dataquest.com.

Dataquest, founded in 1971, is a global market research and consulting company serving the high-technology and financial communities. The company provides worldwide market coverage on the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the information technology industry. Dataquest is a GartnerGroup [ http://www.gartner.com/ ] Company.