The Hindu : Business : PC market grew 35 p.c. in Q3

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004

Business

Business

PC market grew 35 p.c. in Q3 — Gartner study

By Our Staff Correspondent

MUMBAI, NOV. 16. The Indian personal computer (PC) market grew by 35.1 per cent shipping more than 8.85 lakh units in the third quarter of 2004, according to Gartner. This includes desktops, notebooks and servers. India's share in the Asia-Pacific region increased to 10.4 per cent from 9.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Desktop shipment grew annually by 32 per cent during this quarter while notebooks registered 126 per cent growth. This is in confirmation with growth trends observed during the first half of 2004. Small and medium businesses and finance and banking continue to be the growth drivers.

"While the corporate market continued to look healthy, top vendors are now seen to be aggressively targeting the premium end of the consumer segment,'' said Vinod Nair, Analyst-Computing Systems, Gartner India.

Commenting on the notebook market, Mr. Nair said, "Local entrants are expected to gain some market share in the short term with price-point advantages over branded players, though quality of after-sales service will be highly questionable.''

With regard to future trends, Mr. Nair said, "Some telecom service providers are now tapping avenues to bundle the desktop with Internet service making it available at affordable monthly plans. If priced properly, this will be a good move to increase desktop penetration and to growth the market in India.''

From a vendor market share perspective, Hewlett-Packard maintained the top position with 14.3 per cent followed by HCL with 12.1 per cent while IBM had a 8.3 per cent market share.

From an Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) perspective, 8.5 million units of PC were shipped in the third quarter of 2004. This is an increase of 9.8 per cent from the same period a year ago, equivalent to 3.1 per cent sequentially. Overall in Asia Pacific, the professional market grew by 15.7 per cent and the home market by 2.2 per cent.

Growth contributors in the professional market came from India, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and Vietnam where seasonally it is the buying quarter. As for the home market, the low growth rate was affected by weak performance in the South Korean market, where consumer spending is still sluggish.

The Deskbased PC market year over year growth is 6.5 per cent while mobile PC is at 26.1 per cent. Demand for Deskbased PCs was driven from emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Mobile PC growth in China and Australia continues to be strong. In India, the small shipment base of mobile PC coupled with strong demand propelled growth rates of over 100 per cent.

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