Overseas markets drive PC sales
After a year of seeing worldwide sales growth rates in the single digits, the personal computer industry shipped 10.9% more PCs in the first quarter of 2007 than it did a year earlier.
The market research firm IDC said the uptick was a result of increased demand in emerging markets such as China and India, as well as the PC industry’s response to the 2006 slump -- it offered more products and cut prices.
“There is a potential that the worldwide PC market will recover from a tough 2006 if this kind of growth rate continues,” said David Daoud, an analyst with Framingham, Mass.-based IDC Research Inc.
“This expansion is very sluggish for an industry which is used to seeing double-digit growth rates,” he added.
Worldwide PC sales in the first quarter hit 58.9 million units.
The IDC report showed that in the first quarter of 2007 Hewlett-Packard Co. expanded its market share both globally and domestically. Palo Alto-based HP, which overtook Dell Inc. last year as the leader in the global PC market, increased its global share to 19.1% in the first quarter, up from 16.5% in the same quarter in 2006. Dell had 15.2%, down from 18.2%.
The U.S. market grew only 3.6% in the first quarter from a year earlier. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell is still the dominant PC maker in the U.S. with 26.8% of the market, down from 32.4% in the year-earlier period. HP is fast on Dell’s heels with 24.2%, up from 20% in the first quarter of 2006.
Looking ahead to the next two years, IDC predicted that worldwide PC sales would continue to post double-digit gains because of the popularity of portable computers and the growth of markets in countries such as China, India and Brazil.
“Mobility remains a strong driver of growth,” Daoud said. “And emerging markets are interested in desktops.”
Microsoft Corp.’s new operating system, Vista, might also boost computer sales in the coming year, Daoud said.
“People might not open their wallets only because of Vista,” he said. But Vista, along with bigger hard drives and faster chips, will attract consumers who want to do more with their computers such as use them for multimedia.
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