New York - The economic crisis has hit the personal computer market, with sales figures in the fourth quarter of 2008 stagnating for the first time in five years, two US research companies reported Thursday.

Sales figures compared by Gartner Inc to the previous years showed a slight quarterly increase of 1.1 per cent to 78.1 million units.

Meanwhile, analysts from IDC identified a shrinking of the market by 0.4 per cent in the quarter.

The boom in cheap netbooks failed to offset falling demand because of the crisis, according to IDC.

The PC market, however, grew by 10.5 per cent over the whole of 2008. (dpa)