The Hindu Business Line : PC shipments in Asia-Pacific up 19 pc: IDC India, Taiwan perform below expectations

IDC said that notebooks were particularly solid as all the countries in the region recorded double-digit year-on-year growth rates in shipments in 2005.

New Delhi , Jan. 22

THE Asia-Pacific PC market touched 11.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2005, posting a year-on-year growth of 19 per cent, with China, Hong Kong and Singapore exceeding expectations even as India and Taiwan markets performed below expectations, according to IDC.

"IDC's preliminary results show that the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) PC market totalled 11.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2005, thus bringing full year 2005 shipments to 41.1 million units, or 18 per cent growth for the year. With sequential growth of 2 per cent and a year-on-year growth of 19 per cent, fourth quarter 2005 PC shipments came in one per cent above IDC's initial forecasts, with China, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore exceeding expectations, while India and Taiwan in particular, performed worse than expected," a latest IDC report said here.

It said India's PC market slowed in fourth quarter 2005 as several holidays during the quarter hampered commercial spending while a Government contract failed to generate enough momentum.

"Meanwhile in Taiwan, the cold weather resulted in softer demand while high inventory levels left over from third quarter 2005 hampered the intake of new PC shipments," it said elaborating on the regional highlights for the quarter in reference.

By contrast, PC market in China was given a boost from the launch of two IT projects for schools nationwide.

After garnering interest in third quarter 2005, 64-bit desktop PCs moved further into mainstream Chinese consumers as more vendors upgraded their offerings.

"In Korea, PC replacement demand from consumers led the market's strong year-on-year growth of 26 per cent. Australia came close to market expectations and grew two per cent sequentially thanks to better consumer demand prior to the Christmas sales period," it said.

According to Mr Bryan Ma, Associate Director of Asia-Pacific Personal Systems Research at IDC, 2005 was a particularly good year for Asia's PC market, achieving growth rates not seen in the last five years, on the back of affordable prices and a hot notebook market.

"While the market may not necessarily continue at such record rates due to completed Y2K replacement purchases and the maturation of certain markets, vendors can still look forward to at least 13 per cent growth in 2006, which is still quite admirable and thus represents a welcome opportunity for the IT industry in the region," he said.

In fourth quarter 2005, market leader Lenovo continued to widen its lead on its closest competitor HP, as its total PC shipments grew 10 per cent over the previous quarter compared to the latter's 9 per cent contraction, it said.

Out of the top 5 PC vendors, Dell recorded the strongest sequential growth of 19 per cent as it recovered from an abnormal lull in third quarter 2005.

Meanwhile, Founder recorded a modest 5 per cent growth and Acer contracted by 3 per cent sequentially.

Elaborating on the full year 2005, IDC said that notebooks were particularly solid as all the countries in the region recorded double-digit year-on-year growth rates in shipments in 2005.

In the case of desktops, all the countries grew year-on-year except for New Zealand and Taiwan, which shrunk by 10 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. "Australia, China, India and Korea contributed to most of the region's growth in the full year 2005. In China, PC price wars, greater vendor penetration in the upper-tier cities, and stronger IT demand from small and medium businesses (SMBs) contributed to the market's growth in 2005. In India, lower PC prices boosted the market after it emerged from the WTO tariff drops," IDC added.