PC shipments into Gulf rise 35% in third quarter

Dubai: Driven by continuing demand for portable systems across the region, PC sales in the Gulf states recorded strong growth in the third quarter of 2007.

"Desktop shipments remained flat compared to last year, but unabated demand for portables, particularly in the consumer segment, boosted overall growth," Omar Shihab, Research Manager, PCs and Systems, IDC Middle East and Africa, said.

Total computer shipments (desktop and notebook) in third quarter stood at 702,062 units, an increase of 35 per cent when compared to 519,425 units in third quarter of 2006 with a total value of $700 million (Dh2.56 billion).

According to IDC, UAE was the fastest growing market with growth of 53 per cent year-on-year followed by Kuwait with 49 per cent, Oman with 35 per cent, Saudi Arabia with 20 per cent, Bahrain with two per cent and Saudi Arabia was the lone market to register negative three per cent growth.

35 per cent of the shipments in UAE are re-exported to other countries - East Africa, and Middle East countries.

Laptops recorded the fastest growth. In the third quarter, total shipments grew 60 per cent year-on-year to 501,046 units.

"Notebooks were the fastest growing form factor in the Emirates due to large uptake by small office and home users (SoHo) and small and medium enterprises (SME)," Omar said.

UAE was the leader in notebook segment with 254,545 units, followed by Saudi Arabia with 170,256, Kuwait with 43,035, Qatar with 16,048, Bahrain with 8,779 and Oman with 8,383 units.

Total desktop shipments during the period stood at 201,039 units.

UAE was the leader in the desktop market with 83,959 units followed by Saudi Arabia with 63,360, Kuwait with 20,220, Oman with 12,816, Qatar with 10,702 and Bahrain with 9,982 units.

In Bahrain desktops shipments outpaced laptops.

"Booming notebook sales across the entire region continued to act as the primary growth driver for most vendors. Consumers' demand for portables remained very strong, driven by an extensive product offering, while intense competition between the players maintained price points at very aggressive levels drove a solid growth of notebook sales," Omar said.

"Small and home offices and small and medium-sized businesses in particular invested heavily in portables and will continue to do so, especially as wireless technology makes mobility a growing reality," Omar said.

"This allowed governments to increase spending on personal computers and on IT infrastructure in general. This trend should continue in the future as the six GCC countries remain under-penetrated in terms of PCs," he said.

He said demand for PCs will continue to be strong as more projects within various segments continue to roll in.

In the UAE, top three vendors HP, Dell and Acer recorded 28 per cent, 18 per cent and 17 per cent market share during the period.

In the notebooks sector, HP recorded a market share of 28 per cent and year-on-year growth of 110 per cent followed by Toshiba with 19 per cent and 14 per cent and Acer with 19 per cent and 28 per cent year-on-year growth.

He said desktop demand is expected to wane as notebook momentum inhibits stronger growth, especially in the consumer and SMB segments.

Due to higher security and easier deployment and manageability - and therefore overall lower cost of ownership - desktops will remain the key computing platform in the corporate space.

Fourth quarter demand is going to be robust. There is still a lot of room for growth in notebook segment. Total shipments in fourth quarter are expected to stand at 660,000 units with a year-on-year growth of nine per cent. Current PC install base in the UAE is put at two million units.