IDC report shows notebook sales on the up

IT SEEMS THAT NOTEBOOKS are going from strength to strength in European and Middle Eastern markets, after Q1 reports showed a 19 per cent growth rate in computer shipments compared with this time last year.

The first round of data released by market intelligence outfit, IDC, seems to point to the fact that notebooks are the driving force behind the growth surge, with a whopping 43 per cent year on year shipping increase, even more impressive considering that desktops dropped by 1.7 per cent this year, resulting in the fact that notebooks now represent 55 per cent of all EMEA shipments. The only place where desktops weren’t in decline was in the CEMA sector, where they took 50 per cent of the market, up 9.2 per cent this quarter from last.

Eszter Morvay, a senior analyst boffin working for the IDC reckoned that “While the quarter started slowly, demand picked up in mid-February and, with a robust March, notebook shipments were boosted by over 30 per cent, while desktop sales dropped by another 10 per cent”. Morvay said that market expansion was also due to the fact that telco players were becoming more prominent and that appealing Internet bundles were being continuously developed which added to overall price pressure. Also the fact that the average European household was buying more computer equipment, was expected to be a boost in 2008.

But notebooks stole the global show, whether in the CEE or MEA regions surpassing all expectations to achieve an increase of 72.5 per cent in year on year shipments in the first quarter, combined. The reasons for this are probably due to the intense price competition between retailers, making notebooks the most affordable choice for buyers.

HP topped the list, where EMEA growth was concerned, with an impressive 28 per cent spurt in the first quarter, grabbing just over 20 per cent of the whole market share. Acer snatched second place after solid growth in Western Europe and an astonishing 80 per cent and 90 per cent growth rate in CEE and MEA respectively. Dell came in third with 70 per cent growth in Western European notebook sales in Q1, pushing them to an overall growth rate of 21 per cent in EMEA. Fujitsu Siemens, Toshiba and Lenovo also did relatively well this quarter, coming in fourth, fifth and sixth in IDC’s growth table, respectively.

L’Inq
IDC