"It suggests PC vendors are preparing for lower demand in the final quarter of the year by reducing existing inventory rather than gearing up manufacturing," he said. "Given the overall importance of the holiday shopping season to the consumer electronics and PC industries, that's lousy news."

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at , on or subscribe to . Her email address is .

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in Computerworld's IT Industry Topic Center.