APac PC Shipments up 5% in Q1 2003: Gartner

APac PC shipments totaled 5.4 million units in the first quarter of 2003, a 5% increase from the first quarter of 2002, according to Gartner. The Indian market witnessed 16.3% year over year growth. "While the corporate showed renewed signs of buying, the government and education sectors contributed healthily. End-fiscal buying by corporate helped achieve the strong growth rate this quarter," says Vinod Nair, Research Analyst - Hardware Platforms, Gartner India. 

Branded players fared well, especially with HCL Infosystems crossing the 50,000 PCs mark this quarter, a first for any vendor in India. HCL Infosystems led the vendor table with 9.2% overall market share. On the other hand, the white-box market share declined marginally to 62.4% this quarter. Mobile PCs recorded 56% annual growth with Hewlett-Packard claiming the top spot followed by IBM. 

"While the future indications are positive, the transport strike during April and the resultant shortage of stock could impact the traditionally weak second quarter," adds
Nair.

Commenting on the overall APAC PC market outlook, Lillian Tay, Principal Analyst for Gartner's Computing Platforms Asia/Pacific group, says, "The market suffered a drastic decline in demand from South Korea, the second largest market in Asia Pacific." PC shipments in South Korea declined 22% over the same quarter last year. North Korea's nuclear standoff, a major financial scandal, and the war in Iraq have negatively affected the local economy. "These events have created an overly cautious purchasing climate, especially in the business sector," says
Tay.

DQ CHANNELS INDIA