APAC PC shipments swelled in 2007, according to IDC

Research house IDC’s preliminary results have shown that the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) PC market grew 20.9 percent to reach 66.6 million units in 2007. Portable PCs continued to be a key driver, with nearly every country posting double digit growth in this form factor from the previous year. Lenovo retained a commanding lead in total PCs in the region, although HP’s aggressive moves in the consumer space helped it to close the gap by nearly two percentage points. Dell, Acer, and Founder rounded out the top five vendors.

“It was a spectacular year for the PC market in Asia,” said Bryan Ma, director of Asia-Pacific personal systems research at IDC. “Even though wildcards such as the US economy are looming overhead, the fundamentals are so solid that the market could very well beat our conservative expectations for 16.8 percent growth in 2008. China’s economic momentum should accelerate both before and after the Summer Olympics, and portable PCs will continue to be a hot segment of the market across all countries, especially as the competition for sexy-looking consumer products intensifies.”

The fourth quarter of 2007 in particular grew one percent sequentially and 21 percent year-on-year to reach 18.1 million units, which was generally in line with expectations. Some markets such as India, Malaysia and Vietnam came in short of forecasts due to tender delays, while portables recovered significantly in Indonesia as products were able to clear customs procedures more easily than before. Similar to the rankings for full year 2007, Lenovo led the market in the fourth quarter, followed by HP and Dell, the latter of which has been continuing its recovery in the region.

“Even if results from the SITEX show were a bit tamer than the COMEX show, the Singapore PC market continued to meet expectations in 4Q07 with 22 percent growth year-on-year,” said Reuben Tan, senior manager of Asia-Pacific personal systems research at IDC. “As we move into 2008, consumers will likely drive the Singapore PC market, which will help make up
for any potential delays in the government’s Standard Operating Environment project.”

Kathy Sin, research manager of Asia-Pacific personal systems research at IDC, added: “Hong Kong’s PC market continued to do well, beating forecasts by seven percent despite the seasonal 4Q lull as channel inventory was filled. Healthy economic growth should continue to fuel the market into 2008 with little or no problem.”

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