Global PC shipments rise in 3rd quarter: Gartner

MUMBAI, INDIA: The PC industry performed better than expected as worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 0.5 percent increase from the third quarter of 2008, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. The analyst firm had expected PC shipments to decline 5.6 percent in the quarter.

“These are good results especially given that PC shipments for the third quarter of 2009 are being compared to a very strong third quarter from 2008,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst at Gartner. “Sequentially, third quarter shipments grew 18 percent, which is higher than the historical seasonal growth from the second to third quarter,” she added.

Kitagawa said the consumer market continued to lead unit shipment growth, driven by low priced mobile PCs.

Hewlett-Packard continued to lead the worldwide PC market as its shipment growth exceeded the worldwide average, said a press release. HP did well in Asia/Pacific, particularly in China. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, HP’s shipments declined, but it was less of a drop compared to the EMEA average.

Gartner analysts said the launch of Microsoft’s latest operating system (OS), Windows 7, should have a minimal impact on PC unit growth. But inventory adjustments around the launch could artificially affect shipment volumes during the third and fourth quarters of 2009.

“Recent OS releases have not been a growth driver in the PC market, however the timing of Windows 7 is favorable for the industry due to expected economic improvements and an overdue hardware replacement cycle,” Kitagawa said.

After three consecutive quarters of year-on-year shipment declines, PC shipments in the US totaled 17.8 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 3.9 percent increase from the third quarter of last year.

PC shipments in Asia/Pacific registered 25.2 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 16.1 percent increase from the third quarter of 2008. This strong rebound was primarily attributed to the surge in PC shipments in China and emerging markets in South East Asia that registered strong double-digit growth rates.

The PC market in China is estimated to have grown 28.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009. According to IDC, the global PC shipments rose 2.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2009. IDC had also said that IT spending in India may touch $37.6 billion by 2013, as new business, especially small and medium-sized ones, adopt the technology.