European PC growth still single digit in Q3-report
LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - European sales of personal computers enjoyed a third consecutive quarter of single digit growth, according to figures released by research firm Dataquest on Wednesday.
Dataquest, a unit of research company Gartner Group, said that units shipped in the period totalled 8.1 million, a 9.9 increase year-on-year.
Growth was slower than the long-term average of around 15 percent because businesses were reluctant to put in large orders as long as the weak euro made PCs expensive.
Weakness in the PC market appears to be more persistent than forecast. In the first two quarters of the year growth was down to around eight percent, which was then blamed on the millennium effect. Now the weak euro has been added to the blame factors.
Computer and semiconductor makers such as Dell (NasdaqNM:DELL - news) and Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) had already warned that European demand was slow, but even in September market researchers said that unit growth would come in at around 15 percent in the third quarter.
Corporate customers, which generated 72 percent of overall demand, bought 6.1 percent more PCs in the third quarter this year than in the same quarter last year.
Demand from consumers who prospered under the upbeat economic climate was strong. They bought 21.2 percent more computers than last year.
``The continuing devaluation of the euro against the dollar is changing the rules of large account deals. Customers wait for lower prices,'' said Thomas Reuner, industry analyst with Gartner Europe.
The number of units shipped by Europe's number one PC maker, Compaq Computer (NYSE:CPQ - news), grew by 2.6 percent, number two Fujitsu Siemens fell by 7.0 percent and number three Dell (NasdaqNM:DELL - news) increased unit sales by 2 percent.
International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM - news) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP - news), the number four and five, grew unit sales by 21.9 percent and 32.1 percent respectively.
For IBM it was the first time in over a year that it showed double digit growth.
Growth would remain sluggish until demand for Microsoft's (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) latest operating system Windows 2000 would pick up, said Dataquest analyst Brian Gammage.
Windows 2000 requires about double the computer memory compared to its predecessor Windows NT. Many current PCs would not be able to run it.
Dataquest expects an uptake of Windows 2000 in the fourth quarter, setting off a fresh wave of computer purchasing in the first quarter of 2001. |
