HP outstrips IBM in revenue stakes, but Apple biggest mover

Peter Dinham
Monday, 13 April 2009 09:52

Business IT - Technology

And, if the global recession deepens, TBR believes Apple’s “culture of innovation” will allow it to outperform the economy and its competitors, growing market share and maintaining profitability.

TBR also says that all companies saw customers reining in spending during 4Q08, causing PC unit shipments to decline and average selling prices to fall, with customers focusing their purchases on value-oriented market segments such as netbooks and blade servers.

“TBR believes the recession has precipitated a major change in customer buying habits, where customers are now making do with the lower priced machines they deem ‘good enough’ for day-to-day use.,” according to Spooner.

“We anticipate that customer satisfaction with the utilitarian models purchased during the recession will result in a price-consciousness that lingers even after an economic recovery. Consequently, we believe the drop in ASPs will force vendors to change their relationships with buyers, causing them to emphasise services such as premium support, online backup and cloud-based access to content and data rather than hardware with an initial premium outlay.”

TBR also says that another major trend reflecting consumers’ price-consciousness during 4Q08 was the adoption of WiFi-only devices rather than netbooks or smartphones for mobile web access.

“In fact, we estimate that iPod Touch unit sales outnumbered iPhone unit sales during the quarter, and overall, the traffic from mobile web access has increased exponentially throughout 2008 and into 2009,” says Spooner.

Spooner says TBR anticipates that vendors will increasingly target mobile web access with client devices, back-end technology such as server and storage bundles, as well as support services.