Asia Pacific PC Shipments in 4Q08 Contracted For the First Time in Ten Years

IDC's preliminary results show that the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) client PC market fell 14 percent sequentially and 5 percent year-on-year to reach 17.2 million units in 4Q08. This was the first year-on-year decline in the region since 3Q98 when the region was suffering from the Asian Financial Crisis. Key markets like China did not exhibit as much domestic demand in 4Q08 as initially expected, thus dragging the regional market below forecasts by 13 percent. Moreover, a barrage of dismal global economic news over the course of the quarter further impacted market sentiment and escalated cautiousness across the region.

"This quarter was quite a jaw-dropper – not just in China, but also in India where economic and channel issues really took their toll," said Bryan Ma, Director of Asia Pacific Personal Systems Research at IDC. "The clouds are darkening in 2009, although there might be some pockets of shelter in the region's public sector."

In full year 2008, the region grew only 9 percent compared to 22 percent the year prior. The last time the region posted such a growth rate was back in 2001, but this was still better than the all-time-low of zero percent in 1998. Moreover, many countries in the region still posted double-digit growth in 2008. Lenovo held onto its regional leadership position in 4Q as well as full year 2008, while rankings for most of the other major PC vendors remained unchanged.

"Despite the gloomy economic conditions in 4Q08, the results at the SITEX show in Singapore were even better than the previous year. In the commercial space, the private sector was slow, but the public sector managed to bolster the market," said Reuben Tan, Senior Manager of Asia Pacific Personal Systems Research at IDC. "We believe that the Singapore PC market will continue to slow down and will only see more activities after the Chinese New Year holidays, especially with fresh student notebook buying programs in March."

"Hong Kong came in just short of forecasts due to inventory issues, and Hong Kong is so closely tied to the global economy that risks still loom overhead," added Kathy Sin, Research Manager of Asia Pacific Personal Systems Research at IDC. "Fortunately, mini-notebooks continued to grow sequentially in 4Q08, and Hong Kong's total market was still able to grow 17 percent in full year 2008."

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