The Hindu Business Line : IDC sees PC sales in Asia-Pacific touching 40 m units in 2005

ENTHUSED by buoyant market performance in the past quarter, research firm IDC has raised its forecast for PC shipments in the Asia-Pacific region to 40 million units in 2005 and 44.9 million units in 2006, with India and China expected to maintain their momentum as engines for market growth during the period.

"India, the second largest market in the region, will have the strongest growth rates across all the countries in both 2005 and 2006 - at 30.1 per cent and 25.6 per cent respectively - riding on the strength of the Indian economy and as buyers there reap the benefits of recent duty drops," IDC said.

China, it is expected, would continue to play a key role in the region, representing 45.7 per cent of the total PC units expected to be shipped in 2005.

IDC expects that the Chinese Government will be able to successfully contain any potential economic overheating there.

"IDC now expects 40 million PCs to be shipped in the Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, in 2005, representing an annual growth of 14.8 per cent. This will be followed by 44.9 million PCs in 2006, or a growth of 12.2 per cent. Although desktops will continue to dominate over 75 per cent of the unit shipments over the next two years, notebooks are the hot spot of the PC industry, with a staggering 35.7 per cent annual unit growth expected in 2005, compared to 10.2 per cent for desktops," IDC said.

Commenting on the strong market growth, it said that notebooks were "on fire" this past quarter with the spread of low prices and increased awareness in mature as well as developing countries.

"And in the total PC market (including desktops), China and India will continue to be huge engines for growth through the forecast period, but one should not dismiss the growth potential in emerging markets such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh either."

IDC cautioned that Australia, Hong Kong, and Korea would be conservative in their growth, largely due to maturity of their markets.

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IDC sees PC sales in Asia-Pacific touching 40 m units in 2005