PC market shows impressive growth

Bangalore, Dec 1: Indian client PC market grew at 24 per cent during the third quarter of 2006 with sales exceeding 1.4 million shipment, According to IDC's quarterly Pc market Tracker release here today with the impact of Intel chip price cuts getting clearer, the Small and Medium Business (SMB) segment registered a strong double-digit year-on-year growth in PC shipments.

''The festive season promotions kept the growth momentum going for consumer segment and These market trends were further provided a boost due to a spurt in the shipments of notebook PCs to the Education segment in third quarter 2006 vis-À-vis 3Q 2005'', said Piyush Pushkal, Assistant Manager, PC Research, IDC India in the release.

In the overall Client PC (sum of Desktop PC and Notebook PC) market, the rankings remained unchanged - HP retained the top slot with a market share of 21 per cent, followed by HCL at 12 per cent, and Lenovo at nine per cent in terms of unit shipments the release said.

In terms of total desktop PC shipments, HP led the market in the third quarter followed by HCL and Lenovo. The consumer desktop PC market witnessed a flat performance with a two per cent year-on-year growth. HP retained the top slot followed by HCL and LG at second and third spots, respectively. The commercial desktop PC market witnessed an 18 per cent sequential growth and a 24 per cent year-on-year growth in unit shipment terms. In this market too HP led the ranks followed by HCL and Lenovo.

The notebook PC market continued the growth momentum during third quarter of 2006. It registered a 79 per cent year-on-year growth during the quarter thanks to buoyant buying by the education segment. The consumer notebook PC category witnessed an 18 per cent sequential growth and a 137 per cent year-on-year growth. In terms of total notebook PC shipments, HP retained the top slot with a market share of 41 per cent.

''The commercial desktop PC market moved beyond analyst expectations, as the channel business for 'White Box' machines revived as a result of huge marketing spends targeting the channel partners and through them the growing base of SMB users. Shipments of commercial desktop PCs to the SMB segment grew 46 per cent year-on-year (3Q 2006 over 3Q 2005), Mr Pushkal said in the release.

UNI