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To: SecularBull who wrote (46824)	6/9/1998 10:30:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 176388

China Emerges As Largest Asia/Pacific PC Market, IDC Says LOD and all: Here is an interesting article which might be relevant. [source: Nekkei BP Biz Tech- for private use only] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ June 9, 1998 (HONG KONG) -- China emerged as the largest single personal computer market in the Asia/Pacific region in the first quarter of this year and it enjoyed fairly brisk PC sales growth (see Table 1), according to International Data Corp. (IDC). PC shipments in China increased 27 percent compared with the same period a year earlier (see Table 2). While China's growth rate remained relatively strong, growth did slow slightly in terms of shipments. China's annualized PC shipment growth of 27 percent in the first quarter was the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of 1996. Analysts noted that if the economic problems plaguing the rest of the region spread to China, regional growth prospects could be severely damaged. In the first quarter the Asia/Pacific PC market did not meet sales growth expectations. PC shipments in the Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan) declined 4 percent from the same period last year, or slightly below IDC's previous forecast of a 2 percent decrease in volume. A primary trend during the quarter was continued price erosion and resulting pressure on margins. While unit shipments fell 4 percent as compared with a year earlier, sales declined 29 percent in the same period. The main factors leading to the sharp decline in revenue include the popularity of PCs priced less than US$1,000; heightened price sensitivity in markets plagued by economic crises; and the expanding regional role of China and India, where average system prices tend to be lower than in other more developed markets. Brian Kornegay, senior PC market analyst at IDC Asia/Pacific, said that price erosion was changing the dynamics of the regional PC market. Kornegay said he expected market consolidation in the region to accelerate as a result of lower profit margins in an industry already witnessing razor thin margins. IBM Corp. led the regional market for the sixth straight quarter with a 7.5 percent market share (see Table 3), up from 7.3 percent in Q1 1997, but lower than 8.6 percent in the previous quarter. Compaq Computer Corp. was in second place with a market share of 6.3 percent. Hewlett-Packard Co.'s gains in the regional PC market continued in the first quarter as it jumped to third place. Table 1 PC Shipments in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) in Q1 '98 Country/Region Unit shipment (unit=1,000) Market share China 806 35% Australia 390 16.9% Korea 281 12.2% India 200 8.7% Taiwan 152 6.6% Hong Kong 99 4.3% Singapore 82 3.6% Malaysia 64 2.8% News Zealand 54 2.3% Thailand 42 1.8% Philippines 39 1.7% Indonesia 21 0.9% Rest of A/P 74 3.2% Table 2 PC Shipment Growth in Q1 '98, Compared with Q1 '97 Country/Region Growth India +31% China +27% News Zealand +18% Australia +15% Hong Kong +11% Taiwan +4% Singapore -3% Philippines -30% Malaysia -34% Korea -39% Thailand -50% Indonesia -80% Rest of A/P -28% Table 3 Top 10 PC Vendors in Asia/Pacific Region Vendor Share 1 IBM 7.5% 2 Compaq Computer 6.3% 3 Hewlett-Packard 5.9% 4 Acer 4.9% 5 Legend Group 4.4% 6 Samsung 4.0% 7 Trigen 3.0% 8 Dell Computer 2.5% 9 Digital Equipment 2.5% 10 Toshiba 2.4% (Eleanor Yeung, Asia BizTech Correspondent)