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| Gartner Dataquest Says PC Shipments in Latin America Slowed to 12 Percent Growth in Second Quarter 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SAN JOSE, Calif., August 21, 2001 —Led by sales of sub-$1,000 systems, PC shipments in Latin America totaled nearly 1.7 million units in the second quarter of 2001, a 12 percent increase over the same period last year, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). The market has experienced a slowdown compared to last year when PC shipments grew 51 percent in second quarter.
"While 44 percent of systems were priced at below $1,000 in 2000, the first two quarters of 2001 are showing that the region is moving to a more price-sensitive situation with 67 percent of all PCs being sold at $1,000 or less," said Luis Anavitarte, vice president and research director for Gartner Dataquest's Latin America group. "There is also a slight slowdown in technology adoption. Only 13 percent of CPU speeds in this region were above the 900-megahertz range in the period." Because of the growing presence of top-tier vendors such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell in the consumer market, and successful strategies in the competitive professional accounts, Compaq's top-tier competitors posted double-digit shipment growth (see Table 1). Some of this expansion was due partially at the expense of Compaq, which continued to have a strong lead in shipments, but it declined in unit growth and market share in the second quarter of 2001. Table 1 Latin America PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for Second Quarter 2001 (Units)
Source: Gartner Dataquest (August 2001) "We may also be seeing the effect of the gradual reduction of import tariffs for computing products in some markets in the region. This makes legally established PC vendors pay less for their imports, with a favorable impact in their competitiveness and sales performance," Anavitarte said. "It is interesting to note the direct consequence on some nonbranded system builders' competitive positioning, which were accustomed to buy and use parts and components from the gray market but now seem to be close to a 'check mate' situation given the new wave on import tax structures. This process also has an effect on the overall regional reduction of price points." Venezuela and Brazil experienced the strongest growth in the region with increases of 84 percent and 28 percent, respectively. PC shipments in Brazil accounted for 44 percent of all shipments in the region. Mexico was the No. 2 region with 24 percent of PC shipments in Latin America, followed by Argentina, which dropped to 6 percent of shipments in the second quarter. "Provoked by a severe recession in Argentina, the impact of the U.S. economy in Mexico's industry and consumption, and the energy crisis in Brazil, there is a PC decelerating trend in these three countries. This is more evident in the home segment, which combined only grew 5 percent in these markets in the second quarter of 2001," Anavitarte said. "In these territories, the professional market grew 16 percent in the second quarter of 2001. For a comparison, these two segments grew 111 percent and 39 percent in the second quarter last year." This information is produced by Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Latin America group. The group provides research on key aspects of the dynamic PC, server and printer hardware markets in Latin America. The focus is on regional and country issues in the top eight Latin American markets and the Rest of Latin America (ROLA) category, where Central American and Caribbean countries are grouped. To subscribe to this program, please call 800-419-DATA, or 408-468-8009. Gartner Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the global information technology industry. Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and consists of 4,600 associates, including 1,400 research analysts and consultants, in more than 80 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2000 revenue of $855 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com. |
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Contact: Tom McCall 408-468-8312 tom.mccall@gartner.com |
