EMEA PC market still slow

BUSINESS

The PC market in the EMEA region is still slow, with little growth in the consumer segment in particular, reports IDC.

In its report on PC shipments for the first quarter of this year, IDC says PC shipments contracted further than expected, partly due to low demand from consumers. Tablet PCs and mobile devices are taking consumer and SMB attention away from traditional PCs, says the report.

It said EMEA PC shipments declined 9.6% year over year in 1Q11 on shipments of 24.1 million units across the region. Western Europe shipment levels contracted by 17.5% but growth in Middle East and Africa regions remained positive, albeit at moderate levels, with 6.3% gains.
 
Continued softness in the consumer space remains the primary reason behind this quarter's shortfall across most countries in Western Europe. The current momentum around Media Tablets, as well as Smartphones, clearly continued to drive consumers' attention away from PCs, shifting spending to these hot new devices while PC renewals are put on hold. However this wait and see attitude is temporary, as PCs remain a must-have and the primary computing platform in the home. said Eszter Morvay, research manager in IDC's EMEA Personal Computing group.
 
The commercial market, particularly the corporate space, held up better in 1Q11, driven by continued recovery in enterprise renewals in several countries. But challenging economic conditions continued to affect SMB demand levels, prompting businesses to remain cautious with investments. The situation in the Middle East also had an impact on market behavior this quarter, but the market proved more resilient than expected.
 
Despite the political unrest in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region during the first months of the year, the PC market performed well above expectations, driven by demand in the consumer notebook space in addition to a few large deals that took place across the region. The MEA PC market reported a year-on-year growth of 6.3% in 1Q11, with portable PCs growing by 13.4% in comparison to weaker results of -3.5% growth reported in the desktop segment.“
 
“ Media tablets will undoubtedly continue to disrupt the EMEA PC market this year and the momentum is not expected to slow down in the second half 2011 as more products will come to market in 2Q and sales will boom during the back-to-school and Christmas seasons. However, with more than 22 million media tablets expected to be sold in EMEA this year, and a net new market opportunity estimated of over 15 million devices, the industry will actually benefit from a higher combined market growth opportunity than in 2010, said Karine Paoli, Associate Vice President, IDC EMEA Systems and Infrastructure solutions.