Branded Desktop PC Movement Gaining Momentum In India: IDC

Client PC shipments grew 1.7 percent during July-September (3Q 2008) compared to the same period last year, to touch 2.268 million PCs, according to IDC’s India Quarterly PC Tracker 2008, 3Q 2008, December 2008 release.

Desktop PC shipments fell 8.9 percent, while notebook PC shipments grew 37.8 percent during the period (3Q 2008 over 3Q 2007).

In the overall Client PC (notebooks and desktops combined) market, Hewlett-Packard had the highest market share of 19.7 percent in 3Q, followed by HCL with 9.8 percent and Dell at third spot with 9.6 percent share.

In the desktop PC shipments too, Hewlett-Packard continued to lead the market in 3Q, followed by HCL and Acer in second and third spots respectively.

For the nine-month period ending Sept ’08, overall PC shipments grew 6.4 percent over the same period previous year to touch 6.43 million PCs. Notebook PC shipments grew by 54.5 percent to touch 1.87 million while desktop PC shipments fell to 4.56 million, a de-growth of 5.7 percent.

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Sumanta Mukherjee, lead analyst, PC Research, IDC India, said, “The contribution of the ‘Top Five’ PC vendors to India Client PC shipments grew from 47.2 percent in 3Q 2007 to 56 percent in 3Q 2008.” Though it may be too early to conclude that this is a sign of market consolidation, IDC believes it is a visible indicator of faster movement of ‘branded’ desktop PCs as compared to white box shipments.

While client PC shipments to large and very large businesses contracted 13 percent year-on-year (3Q 2008 vs 3Q 2007), the home segment recorded an increase of 16 percent as buying increased due to the beginning of a new academic session. The SMB segment also registered a 3 percent growth in 3Q 2008.

“The current subdued buying sentiment has led to inventory pile-up with channel partners, adversely impacting finances. Vendors must re-discover niche segments with buying potential and implement innovative marketing programmes to overcome this situation,” Mukherjee said.