PC sales in Asia hit by hand-held devices: IDC

PC sales were down to 108 million units in 2013 in the Asia Pacific outside Japan, which marked the region's first annual double-digit decline.

According to IDC the economic sluggishness in big emerging markets in the region adversely affected buying sentiments.

The firm added, on the consumer side, smartphone and tablet distractions spread throughout the region this year, further contributing to the sharp decline in the PC market, according to the report.

According to IDC analyst Handoko Andi 2014 was expected to remain another challenging year for the PC market as competition would only grow among the devices.

IDC added Chinese PC maker Lenovo retained its top spot last year with a market share of 24.9 per cent, although sales were down 9.5 per cent year-on-year as a slump hit its home market China.

At the second spot was US firm Hewlett-Packard with a market share of 10.5 per cent, up from 8.9 per cent as sales increased largely to an education project in India.

Dell took the third spot with a 9.4-per cent market share, as sales fell 2.8 per cent on a weaker China market.

It would be a challenging year during 2014 for PCs as pressures from devices such as smartphones and tablets increase, according to Andi. There was also the spill-over of economic and political uncertainties of last year, according to IDC.

In a release he added, exchange rate pressures, political risks and economic uncertainties would all likely come to a head in 2014 as well.

According to Andi, if the big education projects from last year repeated, or if the Wintel (Windows + Intel) eco-system was able to bring low-price full function PCs to the market, these could help drive volumes in the upcoming year.

Last year, even education projects could not stop the fall in PC shipments.

According to Andi, the year ended on a sombre note for the PC market, as it declined for the second consecutive year. He added, distraction from competing devices, ongoing pessimism in the economy and exchange rate pressures were among the factors impacting the market this year.