|
|
| GartnerGroup's Dataquest Reports Doom and Gloom May Be Over in the Asia/Pacific PC Industry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sydney, June 9, 1999—With many economists revising their forecast in the Asia/Pacific region (outside of Japan) for 1999, personal computer shipments in the region reached approximately 2.8 million units in the first quarter of 1999, up 19 percent over the first quarter of 1998, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group, Inc. (NYSE: IT). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Many countries' tight government fiscal policies are a driving force in the economic recovery for the Asia/Pacific region," said Ian Bertram, principal analyst for Dataquest's Personal Computer Quarterly Statistics Asia/Pacific program. "A combination of lower-cost products and a stabilization of exchange rates have brought back consumer demand for the PC." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| China led the Asia/Pacific region in terms of units. However Indonesia grew 99 percent compared to the first quarter of 1998. This is an indication that one of the worst-hit countries in the region is on the return. The top five countries–China, Australia, Korea, Taiwan, and India–made up over 80 percent of the total volume of Asia/Pacific shipments (see Table 1). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Table 1 Asia/Pacific Personal Computer Shipments for First Quarter of 1999 (Actual Units)
Source: Dataquest (June 1999) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| With encouraging signs of unit shipments up by 19 percent, vendor revenue was also up by 19 percent. Stability in foreign exchange rates across the region, increase in investment, and general positive economic conditions have lifted the region to almost pre-crash days, which maintained shipment and revenue growth at the same level. Singapore, the only Asian country to experience negative growth year-on-year for the first quarter, is still showing signs of recovery as it grew 13 percent on the traditionally strongest quarter, that of the fourth quarter of 1998. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All major markets (business, home, government, and education) lifted in the first quarter of 1999, with the government sector showing the strongest year-on-year growth at 24 percent. Government spending numbers for Asia/Pacific were influenced by Indonesia, which grew 106 percent, and Korea grew 780 percent. The South Korean Administration network project, which is a plan to install PCs for every public official and its networking plan, was the main reason for this huge increment. Home and business were comparable in their growth and maintained 80 percent total market dominance. With the hype around e-commerce and the Y2K cloud still floating over everyone's head, small to medium-size enterprises (SME) were the major movers in the business sector, especially in the 20-to-99 employee category, which grew 49 percent. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The mobile market grew at 29 percent to outpace the deskbound market, which increased 18 percent. This did not change the fact that the deskbound segment still makes up over 88 percent of the total PC market. Indonesia stood out with 105 percent growth in the deskbound segment, which is 95 percent of the total PC market in the country. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Compaq was the No. 1 vendor in the region for the first quarter of 1999, outstretching IBM from its fourth quarter 1998 takeover of the No. 1 position. The top five were rounded out with Samsung, Acer, and Legend. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| More information on the PC market is available by subscribing to Dataquest's Personal Computer Quarterly Statistics Asia/Pacific program. This program examines how each market reacts to Asia's volatile economic climate and which vendors are winning the battle for PC market supremacy. Additional information on this program can be found on Dataquest's Web site at http://www.dataquest.com/dq/static/offer/programs/pcqsapds19981130.html. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To subscribe to this program, please call 800-419-DATA, or 408-468-8009. More information about Dataquest's programs, descriptions of recent research reports, and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.dataquest.com. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dataquest maintains direct local operations in Japan and seven countries in the Asia/Pacific region–Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand–and has research affiliates in China, India, and New Zealand. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GartnerGroup's 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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As the world's leading authority on IT, GartnerGroup provides clients with a wide range of products and services in the areas of IT advisory services, measurement, research, decision support, analysis, and consulting. Founded in 1979, with headquarters in Stamford, Conn., GartnerGroup is at the center of a global community serving Fortune 1000 clients from 80 locations worldwide. Additional information about the company is available on the Internet at www.gartner.com. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CONTACTS: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lillian Tay (65) 832-1741 lillian.tay@gartner.com |
Ian Bertram (61-2) 9448-8357 ian,bertram@gartner.com |
