Local PC market grows 14.6 percent

About 3.8 million desktop and notebook computers were shipped in Australia in calendar 2005, an increase of 14.6 percent over 2004, Gartner said Wednesday.

HP was the number one supplier, securing 16.5 percent market share, down 0.1 percent from the previous year.

Dell was second with 13.5 percent and Acer — the fastest growing vendor in the top five recording 55.6 percent year-on-year growth — secured 11.3 percent of the market, up from 8.3 percent in 2004.

Lenovo with a 6.6 percent share and Toshiba with 5.9 percent rounded out the top five.

Of the 3.8 million units shipped, around 65 percent or 2.5 million units were desktops and 35 percent or 1.3 million were notebook computers, said Andy Woo, principal analyst for Gartner’s Client Platform Group.

Speaking to CRN, Woo estimated that the mobile ratio might increase to 40 percent as aggressive notebook pricing in retail had seen users migrate to mobile platforms.

The introduction of sub-$1000 models into the retail market in late May last year had also propped up notebook sales. Acer sold around 20,000 units of a $999 model through retail in calendar Q2, helping it move into the top spot with a 20.34 percent share that quarter.

Woo said that 2005 was the fourth year in a row that the Australian PC market had recorded double digit growth. “The growth from a volume perspective is definitely coming at a cost as vendors try to outdo each other from a pricing perspective.

“As margins continue to shrink and cost pressures continue to mount, it is clearly a survival of the fittest in 2006,” Woo said.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, 41.7 million units were shipped in calendar 2005, a 22.6 percent increase from 33.1 million units in 2004.