Still a buck to be had in local PC market

The Australian PC market is still alive and kicking with IDC recording strong year on year growth in Q3.

The research firm found the combined desktop and notebook market managed to ship 875,000 units in the quarter, representing 20 percent year on year growth.

According to senior analyst PC hardware, Michael Sager, the lack of any significant tenders during the quarter saw the majority of activity occur in the SME and whitebox segments.

The consumer space also saw action with the launch of several new Media Centre offerings and demand for sub-$1,000 notebooks growing in significance.

However, a high volume of sales during the second quarter, and growing demand for other low cost products such as projectors and low-end single function printers had however dissipated demand for these notebooks.

The PC market had also begun to reward vendors with strong core strategies, Sager said.

“The focus on supply chain, intimacy with the end user/channel and responsiveness to market conditions are key for vendors in the current market,” he said.

Looking forward, Sager said opportunities were opening up for resellers capable of integrating PCs and notebooks with converged networks.

“The CIOs' world is becoming increasingly complex.” he said. “PCs must be able to help meet their intricate information and business needs.”

Commenting on the quarters’ vendor rankings, Sager said the unchanging order was indicative of a strong effort from the entire top six.

HP continued its lead with 18.4 percent share followed by Dell on 14.1 and Acer on 13.1. Lenovo hung on at fourth with 6.7, followed closely by Toshiba with 6.2. Apple brought in sixth place with 3.1 percent.

“Acer continues to chip away, but Toshiba came back in a big way," he said. "Lenovo is being watched closely as to their eventual consumer launch space.”