Notebooks fuel European PC sales bonanza

IDC reported buoyant notebook demand particularly from the consumer and small business sectors

The PC market in EMEA continued to enjoy healthy growth in the first quarter of 2006, which IDC attributes largely to buoyant notebook demand particularly from the consumer and small business sectors.

Competitive pressure, declining price points, and aggressive promotions were listed in IDC's latest EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker as factors that continued to assist overall PC demand and in particular portable adoption across the region.

According to the analyst firm, the first quarter of 2006 saw total computer shipments expanding 15 per cent year on year, with total portable sales recording over 30 per cent growth. Desktop shipments during the same period rose seven per cent.

"Continued erosion of laptop prices, coupled with aggressive marketing campaigns, have contributed to maintaining unabated demand for portable systems in the consumer and small business market," said Karine Paoli, research director for IDC's EMEA PC Group.

"Dual-core processors have received a good response, and demand for wide-screen multimedia notebooks is growing. But the bulk of the market continued to be based on mainstream and low-end products with many notebooks now found at £399.

"This forces vendors to develop increasingly effective business models in order to meet market conditions while maintaining profit margins."