Gartner Says PC Market in EMEA Grew 17 Percent in First Quarter 2004
Egham, UK 15 April 2004 — The PC market in Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) continued to perform above expectations in the first quarter of 2004, with a 17 percent increase in unit shipments compared with the same period in 2003, according to preliminary results from Gartner, Inc. Unit shipments totalled 14.9 million, primarily driven by favourable prices and a strong demand for professional desk based and notebook PCs.
"Demand for PCs in the professional market remains strong, fuelled by the continued decline in the value of the dollar," said Brian Gammage, Research Vice President at Gartner. "The PC replacement cycle that started to materialise last year accelerated in Western Europe as buyers took advantage of increased purchasing power."
"Corporate resellers recorded significant increases in PC sales throughout the quarter," Gammage said. "Distributors also reported a strong start to the quarter, but saw growth slow down during February and March."
Acer recorded the highest unit shipment growth at 74.8 percent as it continued to gain share in both the distribution and retail channels. Hewlett-Packard was the No. 1 vendor in the region, but saw the lowest growth among the top five vendors and lost share as inventory issues combined with the re-engineering of its channel bid business produced a stumbling performance in some markets. Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens and IBM all outgrew the market.
Hewlett-Packard retained its lead in the notebook PC market, while Acer's notebook PC shipments were over 100 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2003.
Table 1
Preliminary EMEA PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for Q1 2004 (Thousands of Units)
Company
1Q04
1Q04 Market
1Q03
1Q03 Market
Growth (%)
Shipments
Share (%)
Shipments
Share (%)
1Q03-1Q04
Hewlett-Packard
2,350
15.8%
2,073
16.3%
13.4%
Dell Inc
1,656
11.1%
1,207
9.5%
37.2%
Fujitsu Siemens
977
6.6%
799
6.3%
22.3%
Acer
907
6.1%
519
4.1%
74.8%
IBM
650
4.4%
502
3.9%
29.5%
Others
8,320
56.0%
7,622
59.9%
9.2%
Total
14,860
100%
12,722
100%
16.8%
Note: Data Includes Deskbound, Mobile and IA Servers.
Source: Gartner Preliminary Estimates, April 2004
These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. Additional research can be found on Gartner's Client Platforms Focus Area on Gartner's Web site.
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