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Portable PC shipments up by 80%

Posted on: Tuesday, 12 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

A Ministry of Education scheme and increased awareness of the benefits of mobile technologies helped boost national shipments of portable PCs year-on-year by 79.5 per cent, IDC says.

The firm's preliminary results for the New Zealand PC market for the second quarter of 2003 also show that PC suppliers dispatched 123,433 units over all from the categories of desktop PC, mobile PC, and x86 servers, up 30.2% on the first quarter of 2003, and up 30.4% for the same quarter in 2002.

Sonja Olsson, senior analyst for hardware research at IDC's Auckland office, said the second quarter was usually the strongest period for PC buying in New Zealand.

"It is the beginning of the financial year for many New Zealand businesses, as well as for the Government," she said.

"Budgets are refreshed, and corporate spending increases."

In 2003, the strength of the New Zealand dollar against trading partners such as the US and Australia gave personal computer (PC) vendors the room they needed to compete aggressively on pricing in the desktop and notebook markets.

"Competitive pricing has been a key driver for both commercial and consumer spending during the Q2 2003 period," she said.

Ms Olsson maintains that although the Ministry of Education's Laptops for Secondary School Teachers Scheme contributed to the 79.5% year-on-year growth in shipments of portable PCs, the firm has seen demand for portable PCs grow strongly in the consumer and commercial segments.

The report by IDC, the Auckland-based information technology market research and consultancy firm, also shows that Hewlett- Packard maintained its position as brand leader for the total personal computer market, with a 39.3% market share.

Hewlett-Packard captured first position in the portables market from Toshiba and continued to lead in the desktop and x86 server markets during the second quarter.

IBM reclaimed second position in the overall PC market from Toshiba on the back of several wins in the commercial arena.

Third and fourth positions were held by Dell and Toshiba respectively, with Acer rounding out the top five.

Ms Olsson says the post-Y2K refresh cycle in the business market will continue to stimulate market activity during the next 12 months, and that 2003 will be a bumper year for notebook shipments.

"With desktop replacements beginning, the move towards mobility, and declining prices, the PC market should expect to see an increase in shipments over 2002."

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