4.7% (Update1)
2/2/01 9:15 AM
Source:Bloomberg News
London, Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- European personal-computer sales to consumers fell 4.7 percent in
the fourth quarter because PC makers didn't cut prices enough, and uncertainty about the U.S.
economy may also curb growth this year, said Dataquest Inc.
Total European fourth-quarter shipments, which include sales to businesses, rose 2 percent to 11
million units, according to Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Group Inc. In all of 2000, European home PC
sales increased 12.2 percent over 1999, the report said.
Many of the biggest PC makers, including Compaq Computer Corp.,
have said that fourth-quarter revenue missed forecasts because they
sold fewer-than-anticipated machines worldwide. Computers costing
less than $1,000 weren't cheap enough to attract new buyers,
Dataquest said.
''You may get more PC for your money than you did a year ago, but
for many entry-level buyers, it is still not enough,'' said Brian
Gammage, an analyst at Dataquest. Dataquest defines consumer
PCs as those priced under $1,000. Shipments of higher-priced PCs,
or those priced between $1,500 and $2,500, grew in the last quarter,
Gammage said.
Currency Risks
The rise of the dollar against the euro during most of November
increased the cost of computer parts, making it difficult for U.S.
vendors to lower prices of their computers in Europe, Gammage said.
''If the dollar moves more favorably this year, it could make prices
more attractive to customers,'' he said.
Sales to businesses, which represent 72 percent of the total, rose 3.7 percent. The growth was held
back by reluctance among businesses to buy or upgrade systems after they spent heavily ahead of
the 2000 date change, Gammage said. Sales of Microsoft Corp.'s new operating system, Window
2000, which picked up slower than expected in 2000, should drive this year's demand, he said.
''There's been a reticence to migrate to Windows 2000,'' Gammage said. ''Companies cannot delay
those replacements longer.''
Shipments this year of desktop PCs, laptops and servers, the large computers that run the Internet
and corporate networks, rose 6 percent to 35.3 million units in Europe.
At Compaq, Europe's No. 1 PC vendor, and Dell Computer Corp., the No. 3, shipments rose 3.2
percent in 2000. PC shipments at Fujitsu-Siemens, the No. 2, fell 6.7 percent in the quarter,
Dataquest said.
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s 2000 shipments rose the fastest at 23.2 percent, more than four times average
industry growth. The company dethroned International Business Machines Corp. as Europe's No. 4,
Dataquest said. IBM shipments dropped 3.2 percent.
Germany is Europe's largest PC market with 7.1 million units shipped in 2000, up 4.3 percent from
1999. The U.K. comes second with 6.1 million, an increase of 7.9 percent. France, third largest, fell
1.1 percent to 4.3 million units.
France is still a difficult market, said Werner Koepf, chief executive officer of Compaq Europe,
Middle-East and Africa at a press conference in London yesterday.
Russia was the fastest-growing country with a rise of 28.9 percent to 1.4 million units. |
