Asian PC market: From Tumult to Recovery.
Hi Kemble
Here is some interesting news from the East.
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"After two very tumultuous years, the regional PC market appears to be firmly planted on the path of recovery," said IDC Asia-Pacific research manager Brian Kornegay.
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Published on Tuesday, June 15, 1999
PERSONAL COMPUTING
Mainland leads the charge as Asia-Pacific PC sales jump 24pc
XIAO-FEI ZHANG
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Asia-Pacific is seeing signs of recovery, at least in the market for personal computers.
PC sales in the region, excluding Japan, jumped 24 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to International Data Corp (IDC) figures.
Sales gains were supported by continuing growth in key countries such as the mainland, Australia, India and Taiwan.
PC shipments amounted to 2.95 million units in the first quarter, compared with 2.37 million during the first quarter last year. In US dollar terms, that was a 29 per cent increase to $4.3 billion from $3.3 billion.
It was the highest increase in PC sales in Asia, excluding Japan, since 1996, when sales grew more than 30 per cent.
"There are two reasons for this," said Kitty Fok, Asia-Pacific PC research manager for IDC.
"One is because China and India sustained high growth even during the financial crisis. The second is because Asia is recovering from the financial crisis."
The mainland, which accounted for 34.6 per cent of the total regional shipments, and India, which accounted for 9.1 per cent, grew 22 and 35 per cent respectively.
Both countries were more or less sheltered from the currency devaluation which stormed through Asia last year.
As for recovering economies, South Korea made a huge comeback. Its PC market surged more than 50 per cent in the first quarter, compared with the same period last year - from 281,000 shipments to 424,000.
"The Korean Government bought a lot of PCs," said Ms Fok. "Home PCs were also strong."
As for individual vendors, IBM beat Compaq, selling 174,000 units in this quarter, or 8.7 per cent of market share.
The mainland's largest PC-maker, Legend, took third place with 174,000 units, followed closely by Samsung. Both were about 6 per cent market share. Hewlett-Packard finished fifth.
"Both Legend and Samsung cater only to their own local markets. Their growth is bolstered primarily by the growth in both China and Korea," Ms Fok said.
As a result of the strong first-quarter results, IDC increased its regional forecast for this year to 12.9 million units shipped, more than 23 per cent annual growth.
"After two very tumultuous years, the regional PC market appears to be firmly planted on the path of recovery," said IDC Asia-Pacific research manager Brian Kornegay.
(Courtesy:Technology Post)
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