European PC sales boom

THERE HAS BEEN a 9.3 per cent increase in PC shipments from the second quarter this year with Westen Europe totalling 11.2 million units.

UK shipments were high with a total of 2.1 million units for the second quarter of 2007, which is an eight per cent increase compared to the same time last year. According to Gartner research, the growth was driven mainly by mobile PCs and consumer PC buys. The strongest year on year growth in the market was by Acer, thanks mainly due to its retail channel distribution and a partnership with Dixons.

Dell is still top dog on the shipments, having shipped 530 thousand units for quarter two this year. The company was followed by Hewlett-Packard with 405 thousand, Acer with 246 thousand and Toshiba with 165 thousand.

Principle Gartner analyst for the UK, Ranjit Atwal, reckons thusly: "The leading vendors undertook an aggressive price war, marketing some mobile PCs at the value of £299." According to his crystal balls, Dixons' partnership with PC vendors, as well as Orange's relationship with Dell, will help with PC penetration in the UK market. µ