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

Stan Beer
Thursday, 15 January 2009 10:31

IT Industry - Market

In the fourth quarter of 2008, PC shipments in EMEA totaled 30.4 million units, a 4.9% increase from the fourth quarter of 2007. This region had not seen growth rates drop to this level since the 2000/2001 period.

In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments grew 1.8% with volume reaching 19.5 million units in the fourth quarter. The China and India PC markets accounted for approximately 65% of the market in Asia/Pacific in the fourth quarter, and these countries were impacted by a slow consumer market. PC shipments in China grew an estimated 0.8%, and 2.2% in India.

The PC market in Latin America grew 10% with shipments surpassing 7.2 million units in the fourth quarter. The general devaluation of local Latin American currencies is impacting foreign PC vendors as their systems are more expensive.

PC shipments in Japan grew 7% with shipments reaching 3.5 million units in the fourth quarter. The country was impacted by lower corporate demand and fewer shipments of spring consumer models that were launched in late December.

For the year, worldwide PC shipments totaled 302.2 million units in 2008, a 10.9% increase from 2007. The top 5 ranking remained unchanged compared to 2007. Dell recovered from its restructuring process in 2008, showing a slightly higher growth rate compared to the worldwide average. Lenovo continued to struggle outside of China’s market. Its attempt to enter the consumer markets was not successful in 2008. Toshiba grew faster than the worldwide average by heavily targeting the consumer market.

Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2008 (Thousands of Units)

Company	2008 Shipments	2008 Market Share (%)	2007 Shipments	2007 Market Share (%)	2008-2007 Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard	55,686.8	18.4	49,428.3	18.1	12.7
Dell Inc.	43,144.4	14.3	38,703.0	14.2	11.5
Acer	33,497.4	11.1	26,484.5	9.7	26.5
Lenovo	21,869.1	7.2	20,114.6	7.4	8.7
Toshiba	13,499.6	4.5	10,955.2	4.0	23.2
Others	134,510.2	44.5	126,766.9	46.5	6.1
Total	302,207.5	100.0	272,452.5	100.0	10.9