Global PC shipments grew in the Q3 2009; the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) market had a double-digit decline and Acer of Taiwan overtook Dell in the No. 2 market ranking after leader Hewlett-Packard.

Acer’s market share has increased to 15.4 percent, compared with Dell’s 12.8 percent, according to US IT research firm Gartner. Hewlett-Packard (HP), which took the No. 1 position from Dell in 2006, remains the world’s biggest PC maker. Acer’s shipments jumped 25.6 percent last quarter, the fastest growth among the top PC makers, boosted by sales of low-cost netbooks

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 0.5 percent increase from the third quarter of 2008, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. Gartner says it had expected PC shipments to decline 5.6 percent in the quarter.

“These are good results especially given that PC shipments for the third quarter of 2009 are being compared to a very strong third quarter from 2008,”said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Sequentially, third quarter shipments grew 18 percent, which is higher than the historical seasonal growth from the second to third quarter.”

“The consumer market continued to lead unit shipment growth, driven by low priced mobile PCs,”she said.“Ongoing price declines continue to be a major issue in the PC industry. PC vendor performance cannot be determined solely by unit market share gains alone as related revenues and margin performance are key to surviving in very competitive market.”

HP continued to lead the worldwide PC market as its shipment growth exceeded the worldwide average (see Table 1). HP did well in Asia/Pacific, particularly in China. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, HP’s shipments declined, but it was less of a drop compared to the EMEA average.

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86 servers.
Source: Gartner (October 2009)

Gartner analysts said the launch of Microsoft’s latest operating system (OS), Windows 7, should have a minimal impact on PC unit growth. But inventory adjustments around the launch could artificially affect shipment volumes during the third and fourth quarters of 2009.

“Recent OS releases have not been a growth driver in the PC market, however the timing of Windows 7’s is favorable for the industry due to expected economic improvements and an overdue hardware replacement cycle,” Kitagawa said. “We anticipate renewed interest in hardware upgrades from consumers and small business during the holiday season as a result Windows 7’s release. In the corporate market, Windows 7 adoption is not expected to ramp up until late 2010."

Regional Breakout

After three consecutive quarters of year-on-year shipment declines, PC shipments in the US totaled 17.8 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 3.9 percent increase from the third quarter of last year (see Table 2).

Dell maintained its No. 1 position in PC shipments in the US, however its shipments declined 8.9 percent in the quarter. Gartner analysts said this could be attributed to Dell emphasising profit protection rather than market share expansion.

Table 2
Preliminary United States PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86 servers.
Source: Gartner (October 2009)

The EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) PC market had a double-digit decline for the third quarter of 2009. PC shipments in EMEA totaled 26 million units, a 10.1 percent decrease from the same period in 2008. Central Eastern Europe was the weakest area, followed by Western Europe and then Middle East and Africa. The professional market continued to be weak in both the desk-based and mobile PC segments. The mobile consumer market kept the Western Europe market buoyed and again mini-notebook share increased as most of the vendors drove higher volumes.

PC shipments in Asia/Pacific registered 25.2 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 16.1 percent increase from the third quarter of 2008. This strong rebound was primarily attributed to the surge in PC shipments in China and emerging markets in South East Asia that registered strong double-digit growth rates. The PC market in China is estimated to have grown 28.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009.

In Latin America, PC shipments totaled 6.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a decline of 3.9 percent, from the same period last year. This is the last quarter of expected contraction. Fourth quarter unit shipments this year are expected to grow at 29.6 percent. Much of this has to do with the fact that PC shipments in the fourth quarter last year were so low. However, the generally improving economic scenario in Latin America and the likely strong fourth quarter holiday sales season should also drive growth.

PC shipments in Japan totaled 3.2 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 15.1 percent decline. Both the professional and consumer markets were weak. The consumer market declined 13.8 percent in the quarter, after nine consecutive quarters of year-on-year growth.