EMEA PCs grow 22% in 1Q10 - IDC - Developing Telecoms

EMEA PCs grow 22% in 1Q10 - IDC

Details: Category: Trends & Forecasts; 04 May 2010; 9815 views

In its efforts to regain momentum the portable PC market in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa has witnessed strong growth of 22% in 1Q10. The finding comes in the latest issue of IDC 's EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker...

Portable PCs remain the key driving form factor, with shipments recording solid 32.2% growth year-on-year across EMEA, supported by a return to strong double-digit growth in CEE markets (consumer renewals fueled Western European growth.) Desktop volumes also regained momentum, boosted by recovery in emerging markets and new all-in-one form factors, and returned to positive growth.

Stefania Lorenz, Research Director, CEMA Systems and Infrastructure Solutions, records major success: "The PC market in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa reported solid 39.4% growth year-on-year in 1Q10, accounting for a total of 9 million PCs and bringing the volume of PCs back to the levels seen in 2008, before the global economic crisis hit the region in 4Q08...In CEE, PCs recorded 58.6% year-on-year growth, driven by demand for both desktops and notebooks. Consumer demand saw a major improvement, and signs of recovery are also evident in the commercial space. Desktops reported a rebound of over 20% but notebooks remained the driving force, recording 99% year-on-year growth. The Middle East and Africa region performed as expected, with desktops reporting a single-digit decline while notebooks continued to gain share with a year-on-year increase of 48.5%."

Consumer demand continued to drive growth in Western Europe in 1Q10, with growth stimulated by accelerating mainstream notebook renewals while new all-in-one PCs supported consumer desktop sales. On the commercial side, the market has benefited from a more favorable year-on-year comparison but demand is gradually picking up across both SMB and corporate sectors, contributing to positive commercial growth across both desktop and portable form factors.

"The consumer market remained buoyant in the first quarter and, while mini-notebook sales stayed stable, most of the growth this quarter came from mainstream notebooks," said Eszter Morvay, Research Manager, IDC EMEA Personal Computing. "Mainstream notebook demand was forecast to regain momentum but the market was boosted even further by strong vendor and channel push around Intel's new Core i platform. This has led to a refresh of all major vendors' product offerings and supported increasing noise around computing overall. In addition, all-in-ones, which experienced the first strong market uptake last quarter, also continued to gain traction, stimulating positive consumer desktop market growth to levels last recorded four years ago."

"While EMEA market performance benefited this quarter from a favourable year-on-year comparison with a volume catch-up in particular in CEE, signs of recovery are nevertheless evident and very encouraging, while consumer demand seems to continue unabated," said Karine Paoli, Associate Vice-President, IDC EMEA Systems and Infrastructure Solutions. "The commercial space has yet to recover more strongly in the second half of the year but continued recovery of CEE markets and strength of the consumer market will remain key drivers over the next quarters with a return to positive trends also expected in revenue terms."

Vendor highlights

HP maintained solid leadership and further strengthened its position across both mature and emerging markets. The vendor benefited from the CEE market recovery and continued to drive share consolidation in Western Europe across both desktop and portable form factors. The vendor continued to deploy effective execution in the commercial segment while pushing further in the consumer space with an attractive and extended portable line-up and new all-in-one desktop form factors.

Acer recorded a strong first quarter driven by market recovery in CEE, and in Russia in particular, where the vendor had been severely affected in 2009 while the vendor continued to exert pressure in the rest of the region. Acer continued to drive share consolidation in EMEA, thanks to aggressive promotions in the notebook market and further pushes in the consumer and SMB segments, while it continued to grow its desktop sales and took second position in the desktop market this quarter.

Dell experienced a healthy rebound after slower trends through 2009 (with growth reaching over 22% across EMEA) and gained share across both form factors. The vendor's performance was driven by strong expansion across both CEE and MEA regions. Performance in Western Europe also improved, though it was more modest as the vendor remained impacted by slow commercial demand and active competition in the UK market, but continued to drive increasing consumer volumes across the region.

Asus recorded the strongest growth among the top players, posting triple-digit growth across each sub-region. The vendor benefited from a favorable year-on-year comparison after a slow first-half 2009 impacted by inventory in the mini-notebook segment in particular. However, the vendor made a strong push in mainstream notebooks and continued to drive increasing desktop and all-in-one form factor sales.

Toshiba posted softer growth in 1Q10 but did not benefit from a favorable year-on-year comparison due to healthy results a year ago. The vendor nevertheless faced stiff competition and aggressive pricing practices, particularly in the consumer notebook market, which was also a factor in constraining the vendor's performance.

Other vendors beyond the top five also recorded strong performances. Lenovo continued to reinforce its sixth position in EMEA, enjoying yet another quarter of robust growth, whileSamsung's expansion in EMEA continued unabated. Ranking eighth and ninth respectively, Apple and Sony also continued to enjoy strong performances in the consumer segment.Fujitsu, however, continued to suffer volume contraction.

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