Worldwide PC shipments surge in Q4

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO: Global shipments of personal computers surged in the fourth quarter, helped by strong U.S. holiday sales of low-cost notebooks.

The results capped a roller coaster year for the PC market, which started off badly but showed steady improvement and managed to post growth over 2008.

According to a quarterly survey released on Wednesday by industry tracker IDC, the PC market leapt 15.2 per cent in the October-December period to 85.8 million units.

Research house Gartner recorded an even steeper gain of 22.1 per cent in the same period. Top PC vendors Hewlett-Packard Co, Acer Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd all posted big increases.

The industry trackers said continued strong sales of low-cost notebook and netbook computers during the holiday quarter and a big contraction in sales a year ago contributed to the strong year-on-year gain in PC shipments.

IDC analyst Jay Chou highlighted the big growth in the U.S. market, which he said were fuelled by price cuts that started even earlier in the holiday season than last year.

Chou said consumers continue to gravitate towards lower cost machines.

"For $400 or $500, it's not too much of one's income even in this economy."

PC shipments in the U.S. rose roughly 25 per cent, a strong result that still lagged growth seen in Asia. Sales growth also returned in Europe, which had been a weak spot all year.

Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said the results indicate "the recovery of the PC market on a global level."

Overall, shipments rose 2.3 per cent in 2009, according to IDC. Gartner pegged the growth at 5.2 per cent for the year.

Big gains

HP solidified its leadership in the global PC market in the fourth quarter. The company grew its share to 21 per cent and posted a 23 per cent increase in shipments from a year ago, according to IDC.

Acer took its share up to 13.4 per cent with a 28 per cent rise in shipments.

Third-place Dell Inc continued to lose market share, falling to 12.4 per cent despite a modest 5 per cent rise in shipments.

Lenovo and Toshiba Corp were in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Lenovo's shipments jumped 42 per cent, while Toshiba's climbed 30 per cent.

Apple Inc, which does not rank in the top 5 globally, fell to fifth place in the U.S market behind Toshiba, despite a 31 per cent rise in shipments in the region.

PC shipments surpass 90 mn in Q4: Gartner

According to Gartner, the worldwide PC shipments surpassed 90 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009, a 22.1 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2008, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. It was the strongest quarter over quarter growth rate the worldwide PC market has experienced in the last seven years. It should be noted that these numbers are compared to a very weak quarter a year ago due to the economic downturn at that time.

“These preliminary results indicate the recovery of the PC market on a global level,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

“The U.S. and Asia/Pacific had already shown positive indicators last quarter, however the fourth quarter 2009 results were more concrete evidence of the recovery. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region entered the economic downturn later than the U.S. and Asia/Pacific, so it has been slower to recover. The EMEA region returned to positive shipment growth for the first time in three quarters, and Latin America and Japan also recorded shipment increases,” he said.

(With inputs from CIOL)