Worldwide PC shipments grew by 14.6% to 69.5 million units in the first quarter of 2008 (Q1 08), which was above previous estimates of 13.2%, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. However, the U.S. market slipped to a meager 3.5% year-over-year growth rate as the general economic malaise currently affecting the U.S. economy has begun to impact the local PC market as well. The other international markets more than compensated for the U.S., with the EMEA and Asia/Pacific regions coming in more than 2 points above forecast due to continued strength in developing countries.
As with previous quarters, much of the growth came from the notebook markets, and in particular the consumer notebook segment in retail environments. “Notebook purchases are driving consumers beyond one PC per household to one PC per person and manufacturers are reacting by focusing their attention on customization and personalization,” said Bob O’Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays, in the press release. “The ability to see and touch these devices in the retail environment and pick one out that matches a consumer’s unique style is a critical part of the buying process for consumers.”
The impact of Microsoft’s release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista during the past quarter (Q1 08) was very slight. Instead, the quarter’s growth continued to be driven by declining average selling prices (ASPs) and the general transition to mobile PCs among businesses and consumers.
While the overall market was strong, there were some regional challenges. The U.S. market, in particular, struggled when compared to other regions. This dynamic is indicative of a major trend impacting the global PC market, wherein the U.S. is becoming less of an influence and the emerging markets are growing in importance. Specifically, the U.S. share of the worldwide market fell more than 2 points to 23% versus the same period last year.
“With the weak economy in the United States, PC shipments were negatively impacted by cautious PC buying in the consumer and commercial markets,” said Doug Bell, research analyst, U.S. PC Tracker Program. “Despite the tough economic environment, shipment growth remained in positive territory, essentially driven by the sustained shift to mobility, combined with Dell’s renewed competitive stance.”
Regional Outlook
• The United States market showed symptoms of the economic slowdown, although growth remained positive at 3.5% for the quarter. Consumers and businesses showed some degree of belt tightening – a situation IDC expects to continue into the next quarter.
• The EMEA market maintained solid double-digit growth in 1Q08, driven by continued notebook strength across the region. Demand for portable PCs remained strong in Western Europe as declining price points continued to assist SMB renewals and multi-PC per household purchases in the consumer market. The competitive environment also intensified in the CEMA region, where vendors are driving increasing volumes and accelerating portable adoption in CEE and MEA.
• The Japan market continued its trend of modest 1-2% growth. The consumer market was negatively impacted by an inventory backlog in retail stores that had been created by early shipments of spring replacement models last quarter. However, this was offset by a healthy commercial market replacement cycle.
• Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) experienced better than expected growth for the quarter. China’s total market slipped sequentially in accordance with seasonal trends (Lunar New Year slowdown), but the pain was eased substantially by a very strong consumer notebook market. Indonesia was another standout as vendors found ways to address the customs clearance issue that has plagued that market for many previous quarters.
Vendor Highlights
• HP shipment growth rates outpaced the overall market, but were the lowest among the top 5 vendors this quarter at 17.4%. In the U.S., PC shipments were just barely above flat for the quarter as the company began to face renewed competition from Dell.
• Dell enjoyed its strongest quarter in almost two years, as the impact of its new retail presence and its growing strength in the portable market propelled the company to a 21.6% improvement in year-over-year shipments. Dell enjoyed strong portable growth in all major regions except Canada.
• Acer’s worldwide growth continued to outpace the market, but the combined entity suffered a 20% drop in U.S. shipments for the quarter when compared to the Gateway consumer and total Acer shipments from the same period last year. Most of the decline was due to a weakening in Gateway-branded products.
• Lenovo saw its shipments improve 21% for the quarter, driven by its dominant presence in the rapidly growing Asia/Pacific region. The company also experienced stronger than expected growth in EMEA portables, but a bit slower than expected growth in the U.S.
• Toshiba continued to enjoy the overall transition to notebooks as the company saw its worldwide shipments top 3 million, a 20.6% improvement versus last year. The EMEA and A/P regions, in particular, featured stronger than expected growth as both consumers and businesses in those regions continued to allocate more of their purchase dollars to notebooks.
Notes:
– Some IDC estimates prior to financial earnings reports.
– Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the vendor/brand under which they are sold.
– PCs include Desktops, Notebooks, Ultra Portables, and x86 Servers and do not include handhelds. Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods.
– Data for Acer includes shipments for Gateway starting in Q4 2007, and only Acer data for prior quarters. This reflects the legal status of the companies, which merged during the fourth quarter of 2007.
Source: IDC, April 16, 2008
Notes:
– Some IDC estimates prior to financial earnings reports.
– Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the vendor/brand under which they are sold.
– PCs include Desktops, Notebooks, Ultra Portables, and x86 Servers and do not include handhelds. Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods.
– Data for Acer includes shipments for Gateway starting in Q4 2007, and only Acer data for prior quarters. This reflects the legal status of the companies, which merged during the fourth quarter of 2007.
Source: IDC, April 16, 2008
IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker gathers PC market data in 55 countries by vendor, form factor, brand, processor brand and speed, sales channel and user segment. The research includes historical and forecast trend analysis as well as price band and installed base data.
MacDailyNews Note: IDC’s Apple Mac estimates are prior to Apple’s financial earnings report due next Wed., April 23, 2008.
Funny, I’d been led to believe the Mac was pushing 10% in the US.
From 2007 to 2008 Dell increased it´s sales by about 700,000.
Acer 600,000 more.
Apple only increased by 200,000?
What the heck?
HP is doing gangbusters outside the U.S. Apple???
What’s the right comparison here, when you can buy a Dell s__t Box for 600 units and an Apple white box for 999 units, then comparing the number of units sold versus the number of monetary units, which better expresses the reality. Surely Dell has mastered the model of selling more units for less and less which must account for their increase in units sold, whereas Apple isn’t playing that game and still had in increase in proportionate unit sales. The increase from 759 to 950 units is massive in just one quarter.
very very good
@Connor: I was hearing Apple had 20% of notebooks two weeks ago. That 6% number seems real, real, low.
For Apple to hit over 2M macs this quarter the US # would have to be over 1.2M. This doesn’t make sense.
@Tommy boy;
The notebook market is a subset of the personal computer market. Apple could still have 15 – 20% of that market subset and still have 6% overall share, depending on the percentage of the overall market the notebook market makes up.
IDC’s estimates for Apple have tended to be low over the last few quarters. Gartner normally has more accurate figures.
@Numb errZ
or should that be Err orrZ?
Take a look at the last column in the US table,
(I think I’ll let someone else explain why Acer’s 92.9% is actually not the highest number!)
Shipments are only part of the picture. Analyst love to focus on number of shipments.
They need to also include profit and revenue numbers with the shipments.
Dell can ship all it wants but if it is losing money or making only a few pennies profit, then what really is the point?
Apple has decent shipment numbers with growth in both profit and revenue.
I would take Apple’s position over Dell or HP in the market.
Gartner’s figures are in. Apple 6.6% USA.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/04/16/apple_snags_6_6_share_of_us_pc_market_in_first_quarter.html
If AAPL can have a stock price of $150 – $200 with 6.5% of the market the imagination strains to figure the price with a 20% share.
shame apples worldwide shipments arent on this report, just for my geek like personal interest
if its only 6 percent of the US market then the global per centage will be very low
well by not making a product that half the US population can afford sort of cuts the growth capabilities somewhat
so apple have a 2.5 percent global market share for the quarter
It’s time for another ThurROT article on how Apple market share still means nothing.
The 20% was for the CONSUMER market share… it excluded businesses, institutions, etc.
The numbers reported here are total market share.
“The 20% was for the CONSUMER market share… it excluded businesses, institutions, etc.”
Don’t forget 100% of share of computers with a fruit on them from a company based in Cupertino.
We’re Number One. We’re Number One.