28 January 2008
by Paul Kunert
The EMEA PC market grew 12.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with the year earlier, as notebook sales helped to offset a lacklustre performance in the desktop form factor.
More than 25 million units were sold across the region in the three months, taking PC shipments for the whole year to 92 million — an increase of 14.7 per cent, according to preliminary figures by Gartner.
"There were fears that mobile growth could have slowed, but that was not the case," said Ranjit Atwal, principal analyst at the market research house, which was unable to release specific platform data.
Retailers had proved a little more risk averse over the period on the back of concerns of a slowdown, he added, and had downgraded their stock requirements for the Christmas period.
"Retailers were a little wary of taking too much stock and probably had more inventory runs than the vendors would have liked, but despite that cloud it was a strong quarter," said Atwal.
On the vendor front, Hewlett-Packard continued to lead the market and accounted for almost one in five PCs sold during the fourth quarter and one in five for the year.
In second spot, Acer cast a shadow over Dell’s market share and, according to Atwal, achieved strong notebook growth, even though it was the lowest posted by the company since the second quarter of 2006.
Gianpiero Morbello, UK managing director at Acer, believed the market would continue to grow at a similar rate this year, and while there was further room for price drops to drive demand, it was seeking a balance.
"Relative to the market our prices have not dropped as much; we were too focused on the entry level and have tried to strike a balance and we will continue with that in 2008," he said.
According to data by IDC, EMEA PC shipments grew 14.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, taking total year growth to 15.8 per cent and unit sales to 88 million.
Notebook sales grew 30 per cent and Karine Paoli, director of IDC’s EMEA PC group, said the installed base of mobile PC users offered a good foundation for 2008, although price declines were an issue.
"The industry faces increasing business model and marketing challenges, and market share concentration among a smaller number of players, already evident this quarter, is likely to continue," she said.
After a monumental change to its business model in 2007, Dell showed signs of improving fortunes in the fourth quarter, said Gartner.
"Dell is moving in the right direction, but the question is whether the indirect model is built on a strong infrastructure," commented Atwal.
Dell would not comment and HP is in its quiet period.
