Gartner Dataquest Says EMEA PC Shipments Grew 3 Percent in 2002
PC Market Ended the Year with 6 Percent Growth in Fourth Quarter
EGHAM, United Kingdom, January 16, 2003 — The PC market in Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) recorded modest growth during the fourth quarter of 2002, with shipments up 6 percent compared with the same period in 2001, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner. This was driven by continued growth in the demand for mobile PCs, especially from consumers. For the year, 2002 PC shipments in EMEA grew 3 percent compared with 2001.
The performance of the PC market in EMEA improved steadily during the second half of 2002 and shipment volumes in Western Europe have now returned to the levels last seen during 2000. Despite this, Gartner Dataquest analysts do not expect to upgrade their outlook for 2003, and forecasts growth levels will remain around 6 percent to 7 percent across the year.
Key market trends include:
The positive overall performance masked a deteriorating trend across the quarter, with growth tailing off during December.
The slowdown in consumer demand affected many retailers during December, leaving inventories running at higher-than-average levels.
Corporate PC purchases remained slow during the fourth quarter, with small and midsize businesses (SMBs) continuing to be the main focus of most vendor offerings.
Acer recorded the region's highest growth rates in the fourth quarter, overtaking IBM to reach the No. 4 position in the quarter (see Table 1). Acer's gains were driven by its low-cost pricing strategy and the ongoing expansion of its distribution network.
Hewlett-Packard saw shipments decline during the fourth quarter, as product roadmap transitions and rationalization of its distribution network impacted its performance.
Dell outgrew the market, but continued to miss out on the strong growth in consumer PC demand outside the United Kingdom.
"We don't expect corporate PC demand to be bolstered by a strong replacement cycle during 2003," said Brian Gammage, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Europe. "Most commercial organizations will continue to sweat their PC assets, replacing existing units on a needs basis only."
Table 1
Preliminary EMEA PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q02 (Thousands of Units)
Company
4Q02 Shipments
4Q02 Market Share (%)
4Q01 Shipments
4Q01 Market Share (%)
Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard
2,253
17.3
2,581
21.0
-12.7
Dell
1,197
9.2
1,060
8.6
12.9
Fujitsu Siemens
935
7.2
944
7.7
-0.9
Acer
683
5.2
530
4.3
28.9
IBM
681
5.2
653
5.3
4.2
Others
7,304
56.0
6,507
53.0
12.2
Total
13,054
100.0
12,277
100.0
6.3
Note: Data include deskbased PCs, mobile PCs and IA32 servers.
Source: Gartner Dataquest (January 2003)
Hewlett-Packard suffered a 7.5 percent decline in PC shipments in 2002 (see Table 2), but it still managed to ship more than double the amount of units than its nearest competitor.
Table 2
Preliminary EMEA PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2002 (Thousands of Units)
Company
2002 Shipments
2002 Market Share (%)
2001 Shipments
2001 Market Share (%)
Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard
7,816
19.0
8,447
21.2
-7.5
Dell
3,867
9.4
3,557
8.9
8.7
Fujitsu
2,935
7.1
3,007
7.5
-2.4
IBM
2,064
5.0
2,323
5.8
-11.1
Acer
1,824
4.4
1,520
3.8
20.0
Others
22,633
55.0
20,994
52.7
7.8
Total
41,139
100.0
39,848
100.0
3.2
Note: Data include desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and IA32 servers.
Source: Gartner Dataquest (January 2003)
These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner Dataquest's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe. To subscribe to this program, please call 408-468-8000. Additional research can be found on Gartner's Hardware and Systems Focus Area on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com/1_researchanalysis/focus/hwmkt_fa.html.
Gartner Dataquest, a unit of Gartner, Inc., 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.
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