Notebooks more popular than desktops

NOTEBOOK SHIPMENTS into the US exceeded 50 per cent in the third quarter, beating quarterly desktop shipments for the first time ever.

According to the IDC's US Quarterly PC Tracker, the share of notebooks shipped in the US for Q3 was 55.2 per cent, some 9.5 million units, which is an over 18 per cent growth both year on year and on a sequential basis. Obviously the back-to-school crowd trumped the financial crisis on this one.

The report reckons most of the leading PC sellers shipped more notebooks than desktops this quarter, with some, like Toshiba, deciding to focus pretty much exclusively on the netbook market. Sony, Acer, and Lenovo also put a heavy emphasis on portable machines with an average 65 per cent notebook emphasis.

The IDC also notes that firms like Asus and Samsung, both notebook focused, are making their way into the US market, something which will do much to boost the mid-tier vendor base, increase competition, stimulate demand and keep the units coming.

Research manager of the U.S. Quarterly PC Tracker and Personal Systems at IDC, David Daoud, noted "The consumer market has long favored notebooks, with mobile ratios exceeding the 70 per cent mark”. He added that while the ongoing economic tensions might end up having an adverse effect on the PC space and reduced growth, “the good news is that virtually every buyer considers PCs as must-have products and not a secondary wish-list items."

Noted. µ