PC shipments plunged during the first quarter of 2009 by the fastest rate for at least seven years.

The hardware manufacturer crying most into his beer is Michael Dell who is leading the business off the proverbial cliff, according to a new report by iSuppli. Only 66.5 million desktop and mobile PCs were sold in the last quarter. This is down 8.1 per cent compared to the 72.3 million units sold during the first quarter in 2008, and down 14.4 percent from the 77.6 million units sold in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Mobile PCs did a bit better than desktops, according to iSuppli. First-quarter mobile PC shipments were up 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year, while desktop PC shipments fell 22.5 percent during the same time period. ISuppli estimated that worldwide mobile PC shipments in the first quarter of 2010 should increase 10 percent while desktop PC shipments should fall 6.7 percent.

The bloke who wrote the report, Matthew Wilkins, blamed the worldwide recession and credit crisis for the plunge in PC sales. While this is not exactly rocket science iSuppli previously thought that PC sales would only drop by four per cent.