Fourth Quarter of 2008 saw PC sales grind to halt worldwide, US crashes

Stan Beer
Thursday, 15 January 2009 11:31

IT Industry - Market

Dell showed strong growth in Asia/Pacific, but it struggled to increase shipment volume in North America and EMEA in the fourth quarter of 2008. Acer continued to show exceptional growth with worldwide PC shipments growing 31.1% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Acer’s sales were driven by low priced PCs such as mini-notebooks. Lenovo maintained the fourth position in the worldwide market in the fourth quarter, but it suffered a shipment decline for the first time since 2006.

In the US, the PC market in the fourth quarter of 2008 had its worst shipment decline since the last US recession in 2001. PC shipments in the US declined 10% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“The fourth quarter started out with a relatively optimistic view, but then it got worse every month,” Ms. Kitagawa said.

“In the fourth quarter, U.S. businesses quickly cut IT spending with public sectors, including some government and education buyers, postponed PC procurement due to budget crisis concerns. PC vendors focused on the professional market were especially hit by the weakening market conditions. Overall, consumer mobile PC shipments showed strength, but the shipment growth was boosted by steep ASP declines which were further accelerated by the popularity of mini-notebooks.”

Preliminary United States PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q08 (Thousands of Units)

Company	4Q08 Shipments	4Q08 Market Share (%)	4Q07 Shipments	4Q07 Market Share (%)	4Q08-4Q07 Growth (%)
Dell Inc.	4,465.8	28.6	5,344.6	30.8	-16.4
Hewlett-Packard	4,288.3	27.5	4,439.5	25.6	-3.4
Acer	2,373.9	15.2	1,527.3	8.8	55.4
Apple	1,255.0	8.0	1,159.3	6.7	8.3
Toshiba	1,007.7	6.5	900.0	5.2	12.0
Others	2,219.2	14.2	3,992.6	23.0	-44.4
Total	15,609.8	100.0	17,363.3	100.0	-10.1