The notebook market in Britain grew by a very healthy 41.8% in 1Q08, according to the marketing intelligence organisation IDC. The growth was attributed mainly to renewals, a rise of first-time laptop buyers, and multiple-equipment purchases.
Overall PC shipments for the quarter reached more than 3.25 million units, an increase of 14.3% year on year but, due to the rising popularity of portables, desktop sales continued to decline, particularly in the consumer and SMB segments, as many users chose to replace their existing deskbound systems with notebooks.
However, customer demand for deals and promotions are making the retail environment more challenging. Latest UK victim of this pressure is DSG, which is to close 77 of its Currys Digital stores. Meanwhile, Dell has doubled its notebook sales in the consumer segment since switching from direct sales to the retail channel. Lenovo is expected to switch by year-end, though it lacks Dell’s strong brand recognition.
IDC research analyst Lucie Jichova commented: “Demand for notebooks, stimulated by fierce vendor competition and aggressive pricing, will remain a key engine for growth throughout the year. Economic pressure will continue to drive cautious spending behaviour, but the arrival of low-cost ultra-portables, increasing traction of telco bundles, and mobile solutions in the business space will maintain strong momentum in the notebook market in the second half of the year.”
IDC expects notebook shipments to grow by 35.5% this year, while desktop sales are expected to sink further, with an annual decline of 8.3%.
Jichova noted: “Demand for desktops in the SMB and consumer segments remain lacklustre. In order to maintain sales volumes of consumer desktops, PC manufacturers will increasingly focus on home entertainment solutions and gaming machines. Consumers are going to benefit from attractive notebook offers as competition among vendors in the retail channel intensifies. Furthermore, the rising availability of deals that bundle internet subscription with free notebooks will create further pressure on other channels to bring prices down.”
“Consumers in the UK tend to focus on cost rather than specifications. Recently, we have seen an introduction of affordable ultra-portable PCs, which have been very well received by consumers. IDC expects these basic surfing devices will continue to sell extremely well throughout the rest of 2008.”
Overall marketing activity in the consumer PC market is likely to be boosted in the second half of 2008 by the launch of new products based on the Intel Montevina and AMD Puma platforms. As a result of this intensifying competitive environment, IDC does not expect pricing pressure in the UK PC market to soften this year.
* IDC gathers PC market data in 55 countries – by vendor, product category, sub form factor, brand, user segment, channel, processor, and notebook screen size. The research includes historical and forecast trend analysis as well as price band and installed base data.
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers