PC Sales in Asia Pacific Post Record Growth of 34 Percent
SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (AFP) - Sales of personal computers in Asia posted a record growth of 34 percent in the second quarter of 1999 against the same period last year, International Data Corp. (IDC) Asia-Pacific said Wednesday.
IDC said it had revised its annual unit growth forecast in 1999 to 30 percent from 23 percent.
"The Asia-Pacific PC market (excluding Japan) continued along the path of recovery in the second quarter while exceeding growth expectations and reaching the highest quarterly shipment total ever for the region," IDC said in a statement.
Research manager Kitty Fok said the "region's economic recovery is clearly the most significant factor, but low PC penetration, price erosion, the consumer market and now the nearly-free PC trend are factors setting the stage for the surge to continue." In the second quarter of this year, total regional PC shipments amounted to 3.5 million units, 18 percent higher than in the first quarter of this year. In terms of end-user revenue, the second-quarter PC market was worth 4.8 billion US dollars, an increase of 33 percent annually and 11.5 percent from the previous quarter.
The market research and consulting firm said the gains were "supported by a variety of factors including economic recovery throughout the region, price erosion, government tenders and Y2K-related spending." IDC said every country in the region generated positive annual shipment growth in the second quarter, with increases ranging from about 11 percent in Malaysia to an over five-fold increase in Indonesia.
"The PRC (People's Republic of China) remained the region's largest market in the second quarter, accounting for over one third of total PC demand in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan," IDC said.
But annual growth in China totalled just 17.6 percent, IDC said, adding that the the sluggish growth there was offset by robust demand in the region's four largest markets -- Australia, Korea, Taiwan and India.
Taiwan reported the largest growth of 106.6 percent, Korea 77.8 percent, India 40.4 percent and Australia with 16.1 percent.
IBM remained the regional market leader in the second quarter with about nine percent market share, IDC said, adding that Compaq followed with 7.5 percent.
Chinese vendor Legend remained in third place with nearly six percent market share, followed by Hewlett Packard with 5.6 percent. Samsung's market share totalled 5.2 percent. |
