Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hlpinout who wrote (89410)	2/1/2001 6:50:46 AM
From: hlpinout	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

There is a chart if you go to the link. -- nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com Asia-Pacific PC Market to Remain Strong Despite Global Slowdown: Gartner February 1, 2001 (HONG KONG) -- PC sales in the Asia Pacific will remain strong, especially in the consumer and small- and medium-size enterprise (SME) sectors, despite a global slowdown in PC demand in the fourth quarter of 2000, according to Gartner Group. PC shipments to the Asia Pacific are expected to reach 17.5 million units in 2000, an increase of 31 percent over 1999 and forecasts to expand by 22 percent over 2000. PC market in the region is expected to post stronger demand in the coming years. "The consumer penetration rate in the region as a whole is very low -- approximately 2 percent -- so there are a lot of growth opportunities for PCs, especially in underdeveloped countries such as China," said Ian Bertram, Gartner's research director. "In addition, more than 90 percent of businesses in Asia are SMEs. We believe many of them are still not fully computerized so there will be huge demand in this sector." Hurt by sluggish sales during the big holiday buying season in the fourth quarter of 2000, PC shipments worldwide experienced a moderate growth to 134.7 million units last year. This represented a 14.5 percent increase compared with 1999. "The downturn in growth is concrete evidence that saturation in key segments is playing an increasingly important role in overall market growth, with new shipments unable to mask the effects of economic cycles on replacement buying," said Charles Smulders, principal analyst of Gartner's computing platform worldwide group. However, Smulders believes that the global slowdown in the fourth quarter could bring some good news to PC sales in the first quarter of this year. "While lower growth rates made for a disappointing quarter for the industry, it does help allay some of the fears of inventory overhang going into the first quarter of 2001," said Smulders. "It means that the anticipated sell-off of excess finished goods' impact on 2001 first quarter shipments will be less pronounced." According to Gartner's market findings, Dell and Hewlett-Packard were the only top-tier vendors to experience growth rates above the industry average both worldwide and in the United States (see table).