Gartner Says PC Market in EMEA Grew 15.5 Percent in Second Quarter 2004
Egham, UK 15 July 2004 — The PC market in Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) performed in line with expectations in the second quarter of 2004, with a 15.5 percent increase in unit shipments compared with the same period in 2003, according to preliminary results from Gartner, Inc. Unit shipments totalled 12.9 million, primarily driven by a strong replacement demand in both professional desk-based and notebook PCs.
"Demand for PCs in the professional market remains strong, despite the fact that prices are beginning to stablise, however higher than expected channel inventory levels at the end of the quarter have exaggerated the overall growth," said Ranjit Atwal, analyst at Gartner. "Additionally the PC replacement cycle for notebook PCs is reaching its conclusion and overall mobile PC growth rates whilst still high, are trending downwards."
"The PC market had a slow start in April and May and whilst international vendors recovered, local vendors suffered by comparison," Atwal said. "The price pressure over the last few quarters has virtually excluded the major local vendors from the mobile PC market and future consolidation is a real possibility."
For the second consecutive quarter, Acer recorded the highest unit shipment growth at 60 percent as the company capitalised on its strong relationships in both the distribution and retail channels. Hewlett-Packard was the No. 1 vendor in the region, but for the second quarter running saw the lowest growth among the top five vendors. A focus on internal rather than external activities as a result of a recent re-organisation may have contributed to this poor performance.
Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q04 (Thousands of Units)
Company
2Q04 Shipments
2Q04 Market Share (%)
2Q03 Shipments
2Q03 Market Share (%)
Growth (%) 2Q03-2Q04
Hewlett-Packard
2,161
16.7%
1,906
17.0%
13.4%
Dell Inc.
1,487
11.5%
1,099
9.8%
35.3%
Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens
861
6.6%
596
5.3%
44.5%
Acer
795
6.1%
497
4.4%
60.0%
IBM
696
5.4%
593
5.3%
17.4%
Others
6,952
53.7%
6,523
58.2%
6.6%
Total
12,952
100%
11,214
100%
15.5%
Note: Data Includes Deskbound, Mobile and IA Servers.
Source: Gartner Preliminary Estimates, April 2004
Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens and IBM all outgrew the market and although Fujitsu Siemens? growth followed a poor performance last year it still posted impressive notebook growth of over 60 percent.
Gartner expects growth in the second half of the 2004 to be weaker than the first half as mobile PC growth continues its relative decline.
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.
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