PC sales growth in fourth quarter hit by tablets surge: Gartner

Worldwide personal computer sales grew at a slower pace in the fourth quarter, as tablets such as Apple's iPad and other devices eroded the market for PCs, according to research firm Gartner.

Fourth-quarter global shipments of PCs totalled 93.5 million units, a 3.1 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2009. These figures were below Gartner's earlier forecast of 4.8 per cent growth for the fourth quarter of 2010.

''Overall, holiday PC sales were weak in many key regions due to the intensifying competition in consumer spending. Media tablets, such as the iPad, as well as other consumer electronic devices, such as game consoles, all competed against PCs,'' said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

However, Kitagawa said that the bright side of the PC market during the fourth quarter of 2010 was a steady growth in the professional market driven by replacement purchases. For all 2010, the results indicate the PC market recovered from the recession, as it returned to double-digit growth, compared to low single-digit growth in 2009.

Gartner warns that the PC market will face challenges going forward with more intensified competition among consumer spending.

Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's largest computer company maintained its No 1 position accounting for 29.3 per cent of PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Table1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q10 (Units)

The preliminary results showed that HP's professional business had solid growth, but it was offset by a weak consumer PC business in the US. However, HP did well in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) professional and consumer markets. Asia/Pacific continued to be a challenging region for HP, said Gartner

Gartner's preliminary study shows that Toshiba and Apple were the only vendors in the top 5 to increase shipments, as Toshiba's shipments grew 14.4 per cent, while Apple's shipments increased 23.7 per cent.

Acer, the Taiwan-based PC maker faced challenges due to a slowdown in the overall consumer mobile PC market particularly in the weakening mini-notebook segment, while Dell benefited from professional PC sales across key regions. Dell's weaker presence in the consumer segment meant the company was not affected as much as some other vendors.

Lenovo marked the strongest year-on-year growth among the top 5 vendors. Lenovo's strength was derived from the replacement purchases in the professional PC market, as well as its on-going efforts of getting into the consumer market, said Gartner.

In the US, PC shipments totaled 19.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 6.6 per cent decline compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. This is better than Gartner's earlier projection of a 10 percent decline for US PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Table 2
Preliminary United States PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q10 (Units)

PC shipments in EMEA totaled 32 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 6.2 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2009, while Western Europe remained weak throughout the quarter.

In Asia-Pacific, PC shipments reached 27.9 million units, a 4.1 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2009 and the PC market in Latin America grew 15 per cent as shipments totaled 8.9 million units. Mobile PC shipments increased 17.1 per cent in the quarter, and desk-based PC shipments grew approximately 12.6 per cent.

PC shipments in Japan grew 3 per cent, as shipments reached 3.8 million units.

For the year, Gartner said that worldwide PC shipments totaled 350.9 million units in 2010, a 13.8 per cent increase from 2009. It said that this growth rate was an improvement from 2009 when PC shipments increased 5.5 per cent.

Table 3
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2010 (Units)