Bounce back in Aussie PC market defies expectations

Gordon Peters
Monday, 05 April 2010 20:17

IT Industry - Market

Australia's PC market defied expectations and ended 2009 strongly, buoyed by an increase in consumer spending and lifecycle refreshes on government contracts to record a six percent sequential and a 10 percent  year-on-year growth for the fourth quarter last year.

In its latest report, IDC says that Australia's PC market 'showed the best signs yet the recovery is underway with fourth quarter results showing unit shipments at their highest level for over a year,' with growth in line with its initial forecast.

According to IDC, the PC market's 'lacklustre uptake of Windows Vista,' saw many consumers and businesses sitting out the Vista upgrade cycle as they stayed on the highly popular Windows XP, 'leading to a pent up demand for new PCs and operating systems.'

'The demand for Microsoft's latest operating system helped drive sales, especially within the consumer market where discounting of Vista PCs and notebooks was propelled by the offer for free Windows 7 upgrades.

'IDC expected such a flourish in the PC market. The driving force behind the increase in sales is the demand for those who did not upgrade to Vista, now have a reason to upgrade," said Neville Chan, market analyst for PC hardware at IDC Australia.

Other market highlights reported by IDC include:

'¢    Commercial shipments grew 3% sequentially and 10% year-on-year, as the fourth quarter saw an increase in demand from public sectors and very large business segments. IDC believes these numbers would have been higher if more SMBs took advantage of the tax rebate offered by the federal government until the end of 2009.

'¢    The leading supplier of commercial PCs in Australia is Hewlett Packard which grew 3% sequentially on the back of Government demand and the Australian Tax Office contract.

'¢    Consumer PC shipments grew 11% sequentially and 10% year-on-year outstripping the commercial sector and exceeding market expectations especially in regards to desktops.

'¢    Apple continues to perform strongly with swift sales of refreshed iMac all-in-one PCs in 21.5" and 27" and the new 13" MacBooks. Positive sales of Apple products were driven by lower price points which threaten the price points of traditional PCs.

According to Chan, it is important to remember that the increase in PC sales is not entirely a result of consumer spending. 'There were many government and corporate initiatives which led to the rise in the market. In fact, consumer spending was not as strong as IDC initially expected."

Chan said IDC is now predicting a five percent growth in the Australian PC market for the full year.