Hewlett-Packard significantly narrowed the unit share gap between it and Dell on a worldwide basis compared with a year ago.

It's kind of narrowed the gap between what he can do and what his siblings and peers can do.

Mobile demand remains strong worldwide, but in the U.S. desktop consumer market demand increased in response to renewed price competition.

Mercedes, their most important unit, disappointed significantly.

Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and now Compaq are all refining product and promotional efforts to appeal to small businesses, with the Internet and direct contact playing an increasingly important role.

If they have an old 8-SEER or 9-SEER unit that's 15 years old, going to a new 13-SEER or 14-SEER unit would almost cut their power bill in half.