11 Nov 2009
PC shipments in western Europe fell slightly year-on-year during the third quarter, but sales decline has slowed as sustained interest in mini-notebooks helped to prop up business.
Some 16.7 million PC units were sold in the region during the quarter, which represented a decrease of 0.3 per cent, according to analyst firm Gartner.
But there was a sequential increase in sales over the second
quarter of a huge 30 per cent as large markets such as Germany and France
returned to growth.
Although most territories saw relatively strong sales of consumer products and weak interest from the business segment, the speed at which the professional market will grow is likely to cary going forward, according to Ranjit Atwal, a principal analyst at Gartner. This means that some countries will see much faster growth than others.
The UK, for one however, is still experiencing a “very weak” business market and will continue to do so during the first half of 2010 as organisations continue to test and integrate Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.
But the consumer market, on the other hand, “continued to defy the economic environment” due to the appeal of mini-notebooks, which provide “better functionality at the lower price points”, said Atwal.
“Most of the PC vendors now offer mini-notebooks as they realise the importance of this category. Mini-notebooks represented more than 40 per cent of the total consumer notebook market in the third quarter of 2009,” he added.
PC shipments in the UK totalled 3.3 million units during the quarter, a fall of 2.4 per cent compared with the same period in 2008 but a rise of 30 per cent on the second quarter.
Latest stories from Management
Related articles
Related jobs
Poll
What is the most important IT priority for your company this year?
Connect with V3.co.uk
This paper focuses on a series of best practices and techniques for development teams looking to improve their software development processes
Why good data management at all levels is essential in the modern business (video, 6mins)
Solution Architect / Technical Project Manager / Corporate...
Tier 1 Investment Bank seeks an Administrator with an...
Are you a proven agile test engineer that wants to work...
A leading global organisation seeks a Lead Project Planner...
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies. IThound.com brings you over 2,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.
Do you agree?