UK PC market looks brighter

THE RECESSION appears to be receding - in the UK at least - according to analysts and system builders who are reporting a significant resurgence in July sales.

With new figures from market research outfits like Gartner and IDC expected to show the rate of decline in UK system sales dramatically slowing, local UK players are also reporting an encouraging increase in orders. Mesh computers, for instance, has revealed its July 2009 volume is up 100 per cent on July 2008.

"The market began to turn in March and we have seen modest increases every month since. Mesh's sales and marketing director, Tony Riccardi, told The Inquirer. "However July has taken us completely by surprise. Suddenly, it is as if the last 12 months didn't happen and things are ‘back to normal'. I genuinely cannot remember the last time we saw 100 per cent year-on-year growth, but it's great!".

In addition, unofficial sauces say that Sugar-free Viglen-Lite is receiving a glut of orders from the public sector. Meanwhile RM, Viglen's biggest rival, is also reportedly having to ramp up production in order to cope with orders.

Research Manager for IDC's EMEA PC team, Eszter Morvay, told The Inquirer "While the overall EMEA trend has been downward, that has been heavily influenced by a collapsing Eastern European market. Originally predicted to drop by 13 per cent, the UK market has beaten expectation by reducing only 7 per cent in Q2. Dell was able to regain top spot with Acer in second spot after posting a 37 per cent increase compared to last year. The biggest winner was Samsung, moving to fifth place with a threefold increase in unit shipments". µ