Tough market
It's PC shipment report time again and, according to Gartner, they fell well short of expectations in the final quarter of 2010. A total of 93.5 million units were shipped worldwide in Q4, representing year-on-year growth of 3.1 percent. But Gartner has previously forecast growth of 4.8 percent.
"Overall, holiday PC sales were weak in many key regions due to the intensifying competition in consumer spending. Media tablets, such as the iPad, as well as other consumer electronic devices, such as game consoles, all competed against PCs," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
"The bright side of the PC market during the fourth quarter of 2010 was a steady growth in the professional market driven by replacement purchases. For all 2010, the results indicate the PC market recovered from the recession, as it returned to double-digit growth, compared to low single-digit growth in 2009. However, the PC market will face challenges going forward with more intensified competition among consumer spending."
A look at the vendor table for Q4 and, below it, the whole year, seems to confirm what we already knew: the Far East is driving growth. The two vendors to register the most growth are Lenovo and Toshiba, who presumably did well in their local markets of China and Japan, respectively. Conversely, Gartner said HP struggles in Asia/Pac, while Apple continues to gain share in the US.
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q10 (Units)
|
|
4Q10 Shipments |
4Q10 Market Share (%) |
4Q09 Shipments |
4Q09 Market Share (%) |
4Q10-4Q09 Growth (%) |
|
HP |
17,581,525 |
18.8 |
17,786,986 |
19.6 |
-1.2 |
|
Acer Group |
11,852,617 |
12.7 |
12,075,091 |
13.3 |
-1.8 |
|
Dell |
10,801,225 |
11.6 |
10,395,288 |
11.5 |
3.9 |
|
Lenovo |
9,481,565 |
10.1 |
7,809,357 |
8.6 |
21.4 |
|
Toshiba |
5,346,700 |
5.7 |
4,768,306 |
5.3 |
12.1 |
|
Others |
38,416,677 |
41.1 |
37,816,171 |
41.7 |
1.6 |
|
Total |
93,480,310 |
100.0 |
90,651,199 |
100.0 |
3.1 |
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2010 (Units)
|
|
2010 Shipments |
2010 Market Share (%) |
2009 Shipments |
2009 Market Share (%) |
2010-2009 Growth (%) |
|
HP |
62,768,547 |
17.9 |
58,942,530 |
19.1 |
6.5 |
|
Acer Group |
45,265,678 |
12.9 |
39,783,933 |
12.9 |
13.8 |
|
Dell |
42,123,680 |
12.0 |
37,353,774 |
12.1 |
12.8 |
|
Lenovo |
33,965,812 |
9.7 |
24,735,404 |
8.0 |
37.3 |
|
Toshiba |
19,011,752 |
5.4 |
15,499,805 |
5.0 |
22.7 |
|
Others |
147,768,653 |
42.1 |
132,026,226 |
42.8 |
11.9 |
|
Total |
350,904,121 |
100.0 |
308,341,673 |
100.0 |
13.8 |
Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablet such as the iPad.
Source: Gartner (January 2011)
