The Hindu Business Line : Notebook shipments in Q3 surge 38%; PCs rise 1.7%

Growing numbers
Notebook PC shipments grossed 7.05 lakh units Desktop shipments pegged at 15.63 lakh units
In the overall client PC market, HP notched the highest market share followed by HCL and Dell

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Dec. 24 Personal computer (PC) shipments rose 1.7 per cent during the third-quarter ended September 2008 compared with the year-ago period, to 2.26 million units, according to research firm IDC’s India Quarterly PC Tracker.

A shipment does not necessarily mean into sales, as it represents the units that have been dispatched by the manufacturer to national or regional distributors and channels.

While the desktop computer sales slumped 8.9 per cent, the notebook PC shipments grew 37.8 per cent year-on-year. For the three months ended September 2008, desktop shipments were pegged at 15,63,000 units, while the notebooks grossed 7,05,000 units.

IDC claimed that in the overall client PC (notebooks and desktops combined) market, Hewlett-Packard notched the highest market share of 19.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, followed by HCL with 9.8 per cent, and Dell at third spot with 9.6 per cent share.

Offering a segment-wise break-up, IDC said that within the desktop PC shipments, Hewlett-Packard continued to lead the market in the third quarter, followed by HCL and Acer in second and third spots respectively.

HP, Dell and Acer were the top three players in notebook PC shipments, it said.

Nine-month data

For the nine-month period ended September 2008, the overall PC shipments grew 6.4 per cent over the same period previous year at 6.43 million units. Notebook PC shipments grew a robust 54.5 per cent to touch 1.87 million, while desktop PC shipments slipped to 4.56 million, a negative growth of 5.7 per cent.

Mr Sumanta Mukherjee, Lead Analyst, PC Research, IDC India, said the contribution of the top five PC vendors to India client PC shipments grew from 47.2 per cent to 56 per cent in the third quarter of 2008.

IDC says this could be an indicator of faster movement of ‘branded’ desktop PCs as compared to white box shipments.

“The current subdued buying sentiment has led to inventory pile-up with channel partners, adversely impacting finances. Vendors must rediscover niche segments with buying potential and implement innovative marketing programmes to overcome this situation,” Mr Mukherjee pointed out.

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