Notebooks drive EMEA PC growth

21-07-2008

by Deirdre McArdle

The EMEA PC market continues to grow at a healthy pace as laptops and the burgeoning popularity of the ultra-mobile low-cost notebook drive shipments.

That's according to second quarter figures from research firm IDC, which revealed that PC shipments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region increased by 24.5 percent over the second quarter of 2007. Notebooks continued to drive the PC market, with shipments growing at over 53 percent year-on-year. Desktops also performed a little better than expected in the quarter, with shipments increasing by 0.7 percent over the comparable quarter in 2007.

In Western Europe in particular, demand for notebooks was high in the consumer space with year-on-year growth of 60 percent. This strong market was primarily driven by heated competition and a stepping up of marketing in the retail channel.

Growth in the overall EMEA region was helped in some way by the introduction of the ultra-mobile low-cost notebook. And it looks like these models will continue to have a positive impact on the PC market, according to IDC.

"A range of new low-cost ultra-portables with improved specifications is lined up to hit the shelves for the all-important back-to-school season, which will provide an additional boost in the consumer notebook space in 2H08Â… As a next step, low-cost ultra-portables, complemented by dedicated software, are likely to appear increasingly in the education sector as well as in the SMB space going forward," said Eszter Morvay, senior research analyst for IDC's EMEA PC tracker.

Between them, the top five vendors in the region control just under 60 percent of the market. HP, with 19.4 percent of the market, shipped 4.3 million units during the second quarter, and clocked up year-on-year growth of 29 percent. In second place, Acer -- which now includes Acer, Gateway and Packard Bell brands -- witnessed growth of 63 percent, and now controls 15.7 percent of the market.

Of the top five vendors, Dell saw the slowest growth during the quarter at 27.1 percent, yet it is still fairly secure in third position in the market, with a 12.4 percent share. Meanwhile, Toshiba saw shipments jump an impressive 72 percent during the three-month period and now holds 6.3 percent of the market.

Lastly, but by no means least, Asus, in fifth place, had an outstanding quarter with shipments rising a whopping 164.3 percent over the year. The Taiwanese firm's huge growth is down to the success of its ultra-mobile low-cost model, the Eee PC, which gained momentum across the region over the quarter.