Global PC sales return to growth - but not in Europe

Global PC shipments grow 0.5%, led by consumer mobile computers

Global PC shipments returned to growth in the third quarter of 2009, according to preliminary results from analyst Gartner, nudging slightly ahead compared to last year by 0.5 per cent.

Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said these were good results since they were being compared with a very strong third quarter in 2008.

"Sequentially, third quarter shipments grew 18 per cent, which is higher than the historical seasonal growth from the second to third quarter, but it's the consumer market that's leading growth, driven by low-priced mobile PCs,” said Kitagawa.

But the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region continued to be weak, declining 4.5 per cent compared to the last quarter, and 10.1 per cent (equivalent to 26 million units) from 2008, said Gartner client computing markets analyst Ranjit Atwal, although he added that this indicated "both a bottoming out of the slump and a modest return to seasonal patterns."

Atwal pointed out that the EMEA professional market continued its weak performance in the mobile and desk-based PC markets, both segments seeing double-digit declines.

“Despite some signs of return in IT spending, hardware will continue to see lifecycles extended. PCs were the first sector impacted by cost containment strategies at the beginning of the year and are likely to be the last IT segment to see a return to spending,” said Atwal.

Kitagawa said PC vendors' hopes that Microsoft's latest operating system launch, Windows 7, will drive shipments are likely to be dashed, suggesting that the new software will have a minimal impact on PC unit growth.

"But inventory adjustments around the launch could artificially affect shipment volumes during the third and fourth quarters of 2009," she said.

The US market showed 3.9 per cent increase (17.8 million units) over 2008, while Asia/Pacific showed a 16.1 per cent increase (25.2 million units) attributed by Gartner to a surge in PC shipments in China.